Kids into books: Stella Steller in Horace Snatchfat & The Aliens

Author: Simon Grant

Age: 6-9 years

Illustrator: Kate Wells

Publisher: Breaksea Productions, $14.95


One night she received a very strange and dangerous message. It was in the middle of a wild sea storm that was blowing and buffeting Stella's crow's nest room, and making it feel like a spaceship that was about to take off.

Luckily, Stella was snuggled in bed with her prickly notebook. Even more luckily, she was wearing double-padded gloves so that she didn't get pricked by the notebook's giant quills.

Stella's prickly notebook was especially good for deciphering mysterious messages. So when she heard, "Ahhhhweeeechoooowhisssssshyarrrrrrhcrunch," she switched on her crocodile torch and wrote it down.

It was a message from the sea. Stella got a lot of messages from the sea.