It all began one winter’s night, five hundred years ago, in a sleepy little village. Snow sprinkled the rooftops and pale wisps of smoke rose from a chimney or two.
The moon had just risen when a shooting star whipped across the sky, trailing a dazzling thread of green and red cinders.
500 years after a curse has been placed on the kingdom of Yurp, Matty Swink finds himself in a spot of bother. He’s a virtual prisoner as general dogsbody in a dodgy restaurant, but dreams of cooking glory. So when the King of Yurp announces a cooking contest, Matty is determined to win it. All he has to do is get Princess Meg to like his dish. But he soon discovers that winning the contest might not be the answer to his prayers.
Little Chef, Big Curse is a funny, action filled tale about cooking, curses and weird moon-rats with big appetites. Matty is a likeable, well-intentioned main character who is the victim of an equally unlikeable villain in the form of Fenella, a restaurateur with a penchant for unsavoury dishes made from whatever she can catch or scrape up. Matty’s story blends humour, adventure and fantasy. The occasional intrusions of the narrator take the reader into the story and add to the fun.
Suitable for middle and upper primary aged readers.
Little Chef, Big Curse, by Tilney Cotton
Scholastic, 2014
ISBN 9781742832692
Available from good bookstores and online.