A cute and funny children's novel about pets who are tasked with saving the world. The dog and cat are the focus, but there are other helpful animals too, which may be focused on in other books in the series. Beards from Outer Space is about exactly what it sounds like - mind-controlling alien beards start hopping onto people's faces and taking over the world. The illustrations are pretty funny and if you or your child enjoy things like Stinkbomb and Ketchup Face and other silly stories, this one is a quick, enjoyable read.

There are some larger lessons in friendship and bravery in this as well. I really hope the next book focuses on the cat and her finding her owner or finding a new home. The ending made my heart hurt.

Note: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated in any other fashion for the review and the opinions reflected below are entirely my own. Special thanks to the publisher and author for providing the copy.

I didn't enjoy reading this and as such, haven't posted a review onto social media. I wouldn't read this to any children I teach. The concept could have been made better but I don't think that children would particularly enjoy anything other than the artwork...

This is a brilliant read for younger children based around animals being super agents saving the world.

It was a very funny book, which my kids loved

Based on the previous book in the series, this one is aimed at 5-8 year olds. As such these comments reflect that audience.

The plot was not always clear and to a certain extent assumed that the first book in the series had been read. The writing style added to the confusion as the sentence structure could have been much simpler. Characterisation was lacking in that there was no clear differentiation between the protagonists. Where present it tended to reinforce gender stereotypes rather than animal 'characteristics'. Consequently, the leads could just as easily have been human. Where pet relationships are introduced they add little to either the plot or its back story. The book was divided into chapters but these did not feel like natural breaks in the story and as a mechanism to get very young children to read, they were lengthy. At times the book could be questionably moralistic. The book's ending was weak, given that the problem was solved, the last scene went nowhere and left the book hanging.

The cartoon diagrams were very well done and supported the story well with lighthearted characterisation. There could easily have been more and this would have assisted young readers in understanding what was going on.

We're back in Nothington-On-Sea, and once again Earth is under attack, and the only hope lies with the Pet Defenders. Bisket is still struggling to work with his new partner, Mitzy, but there's no time for bickering as the Beard King is intent on controlling Planet Earth and all living creatures on it.

Another riotous romp from Gareth P Jones, with hilarious illustrations from Steve May. Slapstick humour, a fast paced plot and plenty of Forget-Me-Plop make this such a fun series, can't wait to add it to the school library.

Great for fans of Astrosaurs, Spydogs, Captain Underpants and Jeremy Strong.

Ebook proof courtesy of Stripes Publishing.

Something has to be done when alien beards start taking over the population of a small town. It is up to a group of small animal secret agents to save the town and possibly the planet. Totally madcap and zany, it definitely makes you laugh.