Hooey Higgins and the Shark

Hooey Higgins and the Shark
by Steve Voake, illustrated by Emma Dodson
Candlewick, 2012. 104 pgs. Intermediate

Hooey Higgins and his friend Twitch are desperate to have the enormous chocolate egg displayed in the front window of Mr. Danson's confectionary. But it costs 65 pounds and they have only 5 pounds and 33 pence between them, including what's left of Hooey's birthday money. Rumors of a shark in the area give them an idea: catch the shark, put it in the bathtub, and charge a steep admission. Several bottles of ketchup and a cricket bat later, the boys haven't seen hide nor fin of the shark, but they have discovered a very large sea urchin which they try to charge for looking at through the glass bottom of a terrarium. By the end of the story the enterprising boys receive, by bizarre means, their hearts' desires, and the reader has had a ball of laughs. (Friendly warning: women's underwear flies through a critical scene.)

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