Uncle Gobb and the Dread Shed

Michael Rosen's Uncle Gobb and the Dread Shed is a gloriously daft story for 7 year olds about a boy with a very annoying uncle living in his house.

What happens

Nobody likes Uncle Gobb. He moved in with Malcolm and his mum after his marriage blew up (with an actual BLAMMM). He polishes his face with window cleaner. And he thinks everyone needs to do more homework. Malcolm, the dog, even the table.

If Malcolm doesn't do more homework, he'll be put in the DREAD SHED. That's a special shed for naughty children, which little Derek Gobb dragged home years ago on 127 stolen castors. It's still lurking in the back yard.

School isn't much better. Malcolm won't write "blue" on his worksheet, because nothing actually proves the blue hat is Billy's. There are charts for Getting On Well, and Malcolm is near the bottom. And in tiny writing at the bottom of every worksheet and every chart are two words. Gobb Education.

So Malcolm and his best friend Crackersnacker start to wonder what his uncle is really up to. It helps that Malcolm has discovered a genie pops out whenever he rubs his nose. It helps a lot less that Uncle Gobb seems to have one too!

The best bit is the voice. The narrator keeps butting in to chat to you. He apologises for not telling you why tomatoes are red, has a chapter called Chapter 2 and a ½ and even gives you a chapter where you wait for as long as you like. Kids who love being in on the joke will be giggling all the way through.

Malcolm is a great hero too. He isn't naughty exactly, he just asks the questions nobody wants to answer (like how far Uncle Gobb has actually got in life). And everyone still calls him Ponkyboy because he once told a TV quiz that the capital of Italy was Ponky.

Anyone who has ever been told "that's the right answer, just write it down" will feel for him. There's something quite clever underneath all the silliness about questions with more than one answer. But it never gets preachy. Mostly it's just very, very funny.

It's a brilliant one to read aloud, especially if you enjoy doing Uncle Gobb's booming "I'VE BEEN TO CHINA" every time he wins an argument.

What to read next

If they get hooked on Michael Rosen, Unexpected Twist is one to save for a little later on. It's another school story, with a teacher who asks the kind of questions nobody in the class sees coming.