The Revenge of the Demon Headmaster

Gillian Cross's The Revenge of the Demon Headmaster is a gripping mystery for 8 year olds about a TV pig that the whole country suddenly can't stop buying.

What happens

Ingrid comes home from Wales in a T-shirt with a huge, slobbering pig's face on it. It's Hunky Parker, star of a TV show, and she thinks he's brilliant. Her friends in SPLAT think he's disgusting.

Then they all sit down to watch one of his videos. By the end, they love him too. Nobody can explain why.

Only Dinah misses it. Her nose is stuck in a maths book, and she has no intention of watching the show either. So she's the one who notices things getting strange. Within a week Hunky Parker is on socks, snacks and doughnuts. The shoe shop sells Hunky Trotters, with split toes and brown smears on the front (yuck!).

Then one morning a crowd in the playground turns on a boy called Benedict, just because he hasn't got any Hunky things. And Lloyd and Harvey are chanting along with everyone else.

That scene is the one to be ready for. It's genuinely tense, and it's upsetting to see two nice boys join in. It's also a brilliant way in to talking about crowds, and why people sometimes go along with things they know are wrong.

Poor Dinah's birthday is the saddest bit. Nearly every present has that pig on it. But it's also where she finds a clue, hidden inside a Hunky Parker video, that explains everything.

From there it's a proper mystery. Who sends each new episode to the TV studio by motorbike, only an hour before it goes out? And who could possibly want a whole country doing exactly as it's told? (The title might give you a hint!)

This isn't the first book about SPLAT, the Society for the Protection of our Lives Against Them. They already have a secret password and a shed to meet in. Lloyd's made-up exclamations are the best bit ("Purple pickled onions!").

It's a world of video cassettes rather than streaming, but that won't bother anyone once the pig takes over. Clever children will love being one step ahead of the adults.

What to read next

If they haven't met SPLAT before, go back to the book where Dinah first comes to live with Lloyd and Harvey, The Demon Headmaster itself.