To most people Harry Highfield was just an ordinary boy. Okay he might have worn his pants a little higher than you would expect, but otherwise he seemed perfectly normal.
During the school holidays, however, Harry would put away his homework, get out his cape and become a superhero.
When Harry’s brother Wayne the Pain loses his favourite cricket ball over the fence, Harry has a chance to use all of his (non-existent) superhero powers to retrieve it. The first problem is how to get over the fence. Wayne solves this. He can make Harry fly, with a little help from a spinning clothesline. Then all Harry has to do is get the ball away from the salivating beast which is guarding it.
Harry Highpants and the Salivating Beast is a fast paced and humorous junior novel which is also easy to read. Harry’s adventures are silly and the illustrations, by the talented Heath McKenzie, are filled with comic detail and sure to bring a smile to a young reader’s face.
Part of the new ABC Kids fiction series, Harry Highpants is lots of fun.
Harry Highpants and the Salivating Beast, by John Larkin, illustrated by Heath McKenzie
ABC Books, 2007
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