The Rude and Ridiculous Royals of Classroom 13

Honest Lee and Matthew J Gilbert's The Rude and Ridiculous Royals of Classroom 13 is a gloriously silly story for 7 year olds about what happens when a whole class gets to make the laws.

What happens

It starts on a school trip to a museum about kings and queens. Ms Linda, the unluckiest teacher alive, asks her class what laws they'd make if they ran the country. Big mistake. Classroom 13 itself (the actual classroom, which has become a student with a cube for a head) snaps its fingers, and suddenly all twenty-seven children are royalty.

After that, each child gets a chapter and a turn on the throne. Ava bans homework, and within days the whole country is bored and pelting her with tomatoes. Chloe makes everyone vegan and gets grounded by her own parents. Isabella swaps cars for horses, and the roads fill up with poo. One chapter is written entirely in French!

Every law goes wrong in a way that actually makes sense, and that's where the fun is. Would you want school seven days a week? Olivia would. Should eight-year-olds be allowed to drive? Preeya thinks so, right up until she drives into her friend's bedroom. Kids will love spotting the flaw in each plan before the character does.

The narrator talks straight to the reader the whole way through. They argue with you, crack puns and dare you to look things up. It's like being told the story by a very cheeky older cousin.

Fair warning, it's VERY rude in places, in exactly the way the title promises. There's farting, a lot of barfing, a boy king who runs through town with no clothes on, and a pet crocodile that takes a bite out of his bottom. If bottom jokes aren't welcome in your house, this one might be a bit much. If they are, expect giggling.

It's one of a series about Classroom 13, but it explains everything you need to know as it goes, so you can happily start here.

What to read next

If they're after another class that can't stay out of trouble, try The Worst Class in the World. It's told by a boy whose best mate Manjit has a FOOLPROOF PLAN for everything, starting with a secret trade in biscuits.