Age 5-8

Professor Dotty Dabble is a mad inventor with a robot cat called Digby and a tendency to claim other people’s ideas as her own. So when there is a competition for the best invention, it is up to Digby to find out the facts. This humorous picturebook intersperses the true and eccentric stories of the invention of the Biro, the windscreen wiper, the parachute, the Frisbee and Velcro with Dotty and Digby’s journey in their Gizmobile to the science contest. There Dotty can legitimately enter her voice-activated socks that tell you where they are when they are lost, her centrally heated birdcages for budgies who like to go outside in winter, and her thermal dentures — false teeth that keep the mouth warm. McGough’s text has lots of wordplay (Dotty’s post contains “telephone bill, gas bill, water bill, duck bill”), and the story builds ingeniously to a surprise ending. Swain’s illustrations are lively, stylish and full of fun and, like the words, reward repeated scrutiny. The facts are presented no less entertainingly than the fiction and the whole book is a delightful blend of information and whimsy.

DOTTY INVENTIONS and Some Real Ones Too by Roger McGough, illustrations by Holly Swain

(Frances Lincoln £10.99)

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