Trouble at Home by Cate Whittle, and illustrated by Kim Gamble, chapter book, 96 pages, published by Scholastic Australia in 2016.

Georgia’s house is stolen by a large, green dragon with blue wings. Which is bad enough, but her little brother, Godfrey, was in the house watching TV at the time, so he was taken too. Georgia’s mum is distraught about Godfrey, and they have nowhere to live. No-one believes Georgia about the dragon, so she takes her other brother, Henry, and sets out to rescue Godfrey, assuming he hasn’t already been eaten by the dragon.

This quirky chapter book was a fun read with my seven year old. She could have easily read it by herself; it was a good length, contained appropriate language for younger children, and had short chapters, with black and white illustrations scattered throughout. However, we often read together as it is fun to share stories like this one, and we really did enjoy Trouble at Home.

The story is written in first person by Georgia. She is a great character; I loved her dialogue, and the way her story was written. It reminded me a lot of how my girls tell stories. We liked the way the dragon was portrayed too. Who knew a dragon could blush? Or be a fan of tea?

Trouble at Home is suitable for lower to middle primary school children, and would suit reluctant readers. There are more Trouble books in the series, which we definitely want to read. We already have the second book in the series, Trouble and the Missing Cat, which my daughter has asked to read next.