Disclosure: We were sent the Hannah The Spanner Books free for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own. This post may contain affiliate links see our disclosure policy for more information.
Last month we reviewed two books from the Hannah The Spanner series written by Stuart Simmonds and illustrated by Bill Greenhead. We loved the books so much that we were happy to agree to review three more of the books in the series. the kids were so excited when Hannah The Spanner And The Trip To The Moon, Hannah The Spanner And The Circus and Hannah The Spanner And The Diamond Robbery arrived in the post for them to enjoy.
When ex-cricketer Stuart Simmonds daughters were little he made up a series of stories following the adventures of Hannah The Spanner for them, he made a promise that one day they’d be published. Earlier this year that promise became a reality, the first two books in the series were published and were so successful that two more soon followed. Stuart wrote the books with bedtime in mind, he wanted to create stories that not only children would enjoy but adults too.
Hannah The Spanner Book Review
Hannah The Spanner And The Diamond Robbery
In this crazy adventure, Hannah and her class are on a school trip to London, at the same time the police are looking for a pair of diamond robbers the Harris Brothers. When Hannah unwittingly sits next to two sweet old ladies (the robbers) on a bus she spots the missing diamonds in their umbrella. When her teacher doesn’t believe her she decides she must act, taking annoying Aubrey with her to grab the diamonds back from the robbers. Hannah soon finds herself being chased all over London by the robbers with hilarious consequences.
I think this story is our favourite in the series so far, it’s a fun read with lots of laughs and the kids thought the robbers dressed as old ladies were hilarious. I really liked that the story included lots of famous London landmarks like Nelson’s Column and London Bridge. The kids want to go on their own adventure around London now although I’ve told them that we won’t be chased by any diamond thieves!
I feel like the characters are really familiar to us now and we were all really happy to see Aubrey featured lots in this story as his antics make us chuckle.
Hannah The Spanner And The Trip To The Moon
In this story, we find Hannah and her class on yet another school trip this one is literally out of this world though. Hannah and her classmates accidentally zoom off to space when Aubrey can’t resist temptation and presses a big button in the control centre of a space rocket. While the teachers and everyone on Earth panic Hannah and her friends are excited to visit and explore the moon. An adventure involving aliens, football and an exciting trip back home soon follows.
The kids really enjoyed this story, they especially liked the alien characters the Moonians, they thought a school trip to the moon sounded awesome. I liked that characters from other books in the series appear in this story too like the robot and the professor. Another thing I like about this story is the colourful illustrations, there’s so much to look at on each page.
Hannah The Spanner And The Circus
A trip to the circus is always exciting but even more so when you become the star of the show. In this adventure, Hannah and her classmates visit the circus although Dad wonders what educational value this particular school trip will provide. When the ringmaster announces that due to one of the clowns being out of action after an incident with a custard pie and the strongman’s wife that one of the audience will take his place in the show. Hannah much to her delight finds the golden ticket under the seat meaning she will be taking the clown’s place in the show. A tale of circus mishaps, meeting a huge elephant and naughty Aubrey getting his just desserts follows.
This story is so full of laughs, I absolutely love that there’s humour for everyone both kids and grown-ups when we read the story aloud to the kids we couldn’t help but pause to have a giggle. The kids really liked that Aubrey the most annoying boy in the class ramped up his mischief in this book, they thought it was great when he finally got a custard pie to the face too.
WHAT WE LOVED ABOUT HANNAH THE SPANNER BOOKS
- The adventures that Hannah The Spanner goes on with her classmates and teachers
- The colourful, detailed and fun illustrations
- That the stories and humour are great for kids and grown-ups alike
- How relatable the characters are
- The dedications at the front of the books from Stuart to his daughters
- That the books continue to feature characters from the other stories but introduce new ones too
WHERE YOU CAN BUY HANNAH THE SPANNER BOOKS
The two Hannah The Spanner books we reviewed and others in the series are available to buy from:
FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS SEE OUR REVIEWS ARCHIVE PAGE.
