Tom Nicoll’s Level Up: Beast Battles is a daft, fast video-game adventure for 8 year olds that starts with two friends being eaten by a fluffy yellow bunny.<\/p>\n
Flo is gaming-mad. Max, her best friend, is not. But ever since Flo’s mum built a machine that zapped them into a video game, they’ve been bouncing from one game to the next. This time they land inside Critter Clash, in the belly of a creature called Hungrabun.<\/p>\n
Flo’s escape plan? Jump up and down until Hungrabun throws up. It works.<\/p>\n
Hungrabun, it turns out, is crying over her dream. She wants to fight in the Battles, a huge tag-team tournament. But nobody will partner her, because she tends to eat them. Flo and Max reckon the way home is to coach her to victory.<\/p>\n
The only partner they can find is Kiwi. He’s a bright blue bird whose one power is hiding (plus a very smelly trick when that fails). Hungrabun is NOT impressed. Then Kiwi records a promo video telling the unbeaten champions, Pheasel and four-armed Guggernaut, exactly what he thinks of them.<\/p>\n
The crowd loves it. Pheasel and Guggernaut really don’t.<\/p>\n
It reads like a game, with chapters called levels, a free upgrade after every win and a new arena each round. The fights are pure cartoon. Nobody gets properly hurt, and one beaten fighter is simply poured into a mould to set again.<\/p>\n
The best bit is the bickering. Flo is bossy and very sure she’s the greatest gamer of all time. Max makes notes on everything and wants to know how a round ring can have corners. Hungrabun and Kiwi squabble like siblings.<\/p>\n
And something odd keeps happening in the matches, which Max can’t stop thinking about.<\/p>\n
If you’ve got a reader who plays games with friends (or argues about them), they’ll feel right at home here. The short chapters and constant jokes suit newer readers too.<\/p>\n
To see how Flo and Max got stuck inside games in the first place, try Flo’s first Level Up adventure, where she ignores every one of her mum’s warning signs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tom Nicoll’s Level Up: Beast Battles is a daft, fast video-game adventure for 8 year olds that starts with two friends being eaten by a fluffy yellow bunny. Flo is gaming-mad. Max, her best friend, is not. But ever since Flo’s mum built a machine that zapped them into a video game, they’ve been bouncing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13165,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":7933,"lr_next_read_anchor":"Flo's first Level Up adventure","lr_seo_hook":"Two gamers coach a hungry bunny and a hiding bird in a creature tournament."},"book_tag":[1050],"age_group":[26],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[985],"class_list":["post-7934","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-action-books","age_group-books-for-8-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-tom-nicoll"],"yoast_title":"Level Up: Beast Battles by Tom Nicoll | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"Two gamers coach a hungry bunny and a hiding bird in a creature tournament. For ages 8+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n