Break the Curse (Shower Land #1) (Nat Amoore, illus James Hart, Puffin)

The first in a new junior fiction series, Shower Land 1: Break the Curse is a fun, whimsical book that will appeal to kids who enjoy fantasy and humour plots. Fed up with his dad’s nagging and his little brother’s cheesy jokes, ten-year-old Felix gets the shock of his life when his Monday morning shower transports him (naked!) to a medieval land filled with battles, dragons and magic. He soon befriends twins Elsie and Noah, who agree to help him find a way back to his own world. A dubious fortune teller advises Felix that he needs to solve the problems of others before finding a solution to his own. But many of the supposed problems that arise in this land can be reframed as advantages (Noah embracing his muteness as part of his identity, for instance, and Felix encouraging a maligned baby dragon to make popcorn out of the farmers’ half-gobbled crops). Felix draws on empathy and reflections about his dad and his little brother, Olly (whom he now misses greatly), to help those around him. Author Nat Amoore published her debut, Secrets of a Schoolyard Millionaire, in 2019 to great acclaim, and she is establishing herself as an author to watch. This new series for readers aged 7–9 is well-paced with plenty of laughs, and James Hart’s vivid illustrations bring the world and characters to life. Shower Land 1 will appeal to fans of the Funny Kid series and Anh Do.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Charlotte Callander is a freelance writer and educator at Melbourne Museum. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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