Max and Chaffy: Search for the Ice Chaffy

It’s a snowy day on Animal Island and Max and Chaffy have lots to do. A new visitor, Jacob arrives on the island in search of one of the rarest chaffies in the world to impress the Chaffy Finding Club- the Ice Chaffy! Max and Chaffy are keen to help- and so can readers!

Bright, cheerful and bursting with fun, the ‘Max and Chaffy’ books are perfect for younger children. Instantly appealing, short sections of text- mainly in speech bubbles- are easily accessible and written in a clear font, making the words easier to decode and allowing early readers to tackle the stories independently.

The illustrations are full of humour and encourage readers to interact fully with the story as they are regularly invited to help find Chaffy and to help Deputy Constable Chaffy round up the islands birds so they don’t get too chilly in the snow. Children are sure to enjoy drawing Chaffy for themselves, perhaps creating their own varieties!

Hugely appealing, this is the third book in this brilliant series! I hope there are many more to come!

Max and Chaffy: Search for the Ice Chaffy

Jamie Smart

David Fickling Books ISBN: 978-1788452632

Published 2nd November!

You can read my review of Max and Chaffy: Welcome to Animal Island! here.

Max and Chaffy: Welcome to Animal Island

Max Boggle has just moved to Animal Island with her family. Here, she meets lots of new friends and sets about helping everyone find things, something which she really loves to do. When she meets pilot, Orlando, Max learns about a curious creature Orlando has spotted in the woods and she soon finds Chaffy, but can she find where Chaffy really belongs..?

Although I have never been lucky enough to meet him, I have a particular fondness for Jamie Smart. A few years ago, I was struggling to find books which sparked and held the interest of one of the children in my Y6 class. And then I handed him one of the ‘Bunny vs Monkey’ books- and we had lift off! Not only was he willingly and regularly reading, becoming more confident and fluent on an almost daily basis, but he started to write about his love of the books and their characters with great enthusiasm. The right book for the right child at the right time- magic!

This child presented me with a letter for Jamie, saying how much he enjoyed the books, and Jamie emailed a message back. The excitement and joy which followed was very special to witness- and I have been a huge Jamie Smart fan ever since!

So- you can imagine my excitement when I discovered Jamie has a new series planned, aimed at younger readers, called ‘Max and Chaffy’. He spoke about this (and his other books) at the recent David Fickling Showcase, generating lots of eager excitement from the audience!

And the first book, ‘Welcome to Animal Island’ is everything I’d hoped for. Combining adorable illustrations with lots of gentle humour, the story is not only engaging from the very first page, but offers interactive elements where the reader is asked to help Max find Chaffy. There is also an additional challenge to find mis-placed objects from each of these spreads (can you find the binoculars in the picture above, for example?) The answers are included- just in case they are needed.

The story is warm with friendship, showing Max to be kind, caring and helpful and the sweet illustrations are sure to encourage everyone to have a go at drawing Chaffy wherever they go! This series to sure to engage and inspire young readers and is not to be missed!

Jamie Smart’s Max and Chaffy: Welcome to Animal Island

David Fickling Books ISBN: 978-1788452618

Published on the 4th May 2023