Trouble Next Door

Chris Higgins's Trouble Next Door is a funny friendship story for 5 year olds about a girl whose brand new best friend keeps landing her in hot water.

What happens

Bella and her family have just moved to a very old cottage in the countryside. Her little brother Sid says it has a face. It's dark, the field outside smells of cow poo, and something flutters about in the attic at night. Bella is sure it's a ghost.

Then a voice calls "Hello!" from the tree next door. Out drops Magda, with a backward somersault like a gymnast. She knows where the raspberries grow, she's eight just like Bella, and she used to live in Poland. By the end of the day they're best friends.

But wherever Magda goes, chaos follows. She climbs up the enormous chimney and brings the soot down all over the lovely new pink carpet. She smashes some of the best teacups. She thinks up a game of weddings using Mum's actual wedding dress. And somehow it's always Bella who gets sent to her room to think about her actions!

Is that fair? Your reader will have strong opinions about it (and quite right too).

It's a giggly, warm read. Bella is so polite ("How do you do?") and Magda is a whirlwind ("How do I do what?"). Magda's grandma, Babcia, attacks the soot like a general marching into battle. Dad crawls under the coffee table and says "Woof" because he's in the doghouse.

The chapters are short with their own little headings, which makes it an easy one to share at bedtime a few chapters at a time. There's lots of lovely daft detail for a young listener too, like the carpet that goes in pink and comes out grey.

The ghost does get sorted out in the end, in the most chaotic way possible. It's spooky for about a page and then very funny.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, try Daisy and the Trouble with Life by Kes Gray. Daisy has been grounded for something she did, she's stuck indoors with nobody to play with, and she'd like you to know that life is sooooo not fair.