Publication Date: 29 August 2023

The Blurb

Portico Reeves is the greatest superhero a lot of people have never heard of. He likes it that way—then no one can get in the way of him from keeping other people safe. Super safe.

He’s Stuntboy. He’s got the moves. And the saves. Except. There’s been one major fail.

When Portico, his new friend Herbert, and his best best friend Zola, discover an empty apartment, unlocked, they are psyched. It’s a perfect hideout, and it’s all theirs. So they decide to make it their own… with stunts of the drawing kind.

Problem is, that gives some Grown Up People the frets, which leads to double frets for Portico. And he’s not sure his arsenal of stunts can combat that.

The Review

What an absolute joy it is to be back with Portico, Zola And Herbert at Skylight Gardens, for what turns out to be a very important and daunting day for our least well known superhero. These endearing characters take us through a day at the Castle with all of it’s ups and downs, meeting family, friends and enemies along the way.

Packed full of humour and with comic strip style live action starts to every chapter, this is a highly relatable story of a child desperate to avoid the reality of his parent’s separation, and one that can act as a mirror for children who have experienced their parents settling into new homes and window for their friends to show what a worrying time it can be, making it a brilliant read for empathy.

I found the bag of maybe-not-rubbish that Portico carefully looked after throughout the day a powerful metaphor for the dreams of holding onto his old life. It also delivers an important message about having the courage to face the consequences of one’s actions, as well as facing your fears and talking about them to stop the frets getting too big.

And if all that wasn’t enough, the words that everyone wants to see at the end of a brilliant book were there; to be continued…

Huge thanks to Knights Of for sending me a copy and ed_pr for inviting me to take part in the blog tour. Do make sure you check out all of the other stops.