There’s a Werewolf in My Tent!

Pamela Butchart's There's a Werewolf in My Tent is a funny camping story for 7 year olds about four nights in the woods with a PE teacher who might not be entirely human.

What happens

It's the sixth book in the Izzy and Friends series. Their class is off on its first ever overnight trip, and the big worry is getting the back seat of the bus (Jodi has them at school by 7.15am SHARP). Maisie, the worrier of the group, brings four sleeping bags, twelve anti-sickness bracelets and a can of bear spray.

Then they meet Miss Moon. She's the new PE teacher, the camping trip was her idea, and she's enormously tall. She also throws everyone's bags into the bus like they weigh nothing.

The campsite in the Scottish woods is everything they'd hoped for. A tent with three bedrooms! A thunderstorm on the first afternoon! But in the middle of the night Izzy is woken by a HOWL, and the next morning Miss Moon gets a very strange look on her face when someone asks about wolves.

After that the clues pile up. Deep scratches on a tree. The biggest poo anyone has ever seen. Miss Moon's long nails, her hairy legs and her total obsession with MEAT. Zach adds it all up and there's only one answer.

It's a brilliant mix of properly spooky woods and very silly detective work. Izzy's midnight battle plan against a big hairy lump in the tent is one of the funniest scenes, mostly because she takes it so seriously.

She's as chatty as ever. She can't tell you about the scavenger hunt without mentioning the time Jodi snapped every rubber in the class after losing a quiz. And Gary Petrie decides the River Garry belongs to him.

There's something quietly going on with Jodi too. She's never quiet, and she's hardly said a word since the bus left. Izzy notices, even if she's a bit busy with werewolves to work out why.

Has your reader got a school trip coming up, or a first night away from home? This might make it feel a lot more fun.

What to read next

There's more spookiness at Izzy's school in The Phantom Lollipop Man. The grumpy old lollipop man has disappeared, there's a smiley new lollipop lady in his place, and the gang soon decide the school is haunted.