Erika’s young brother (Randall) is ruining everything: Not only has he taken all their parents attention, he cried all the way through the school play, chewed the fingers off her favourite toy and spilt blackcurrant juice on her favourite t-shirt. So, when he destroyed her picture, Erika lost her temper and found herself in a time out. All of this is still on her mind when she goes to sleep (where most of this story take place).

While Tom Percival has created an alluring story of heroes (the Dream Team) and monsters (the Heebie Jeebies and the Angermare) in Erika’s dream world, it does also deal with the underlying issues of jealousy, anger and nightmares – which makes this great to read together – as there are so many conversation starters. The book is also filled with humour and Percival’s beautiful illustrations, which will only increase the appeal of this book (the first in a wonderful new series).

Some of the language within the story will be challenging for lower KS2 (with words like decimated), so it could be difficult for most to read alone but would make a great class read. In addition to this, as with Percival’s picture books this would be a great resource for ELSAs - not only dealing with the challenges of young siblings but also dealing with bad dreams and anger.

I chose this book because Tom Percival book have been a hit with my Year 3 class previously. I can safely say that I think this book would be a hit with them too!

Erika has gained a new member in her family, a baby brother named Randall. She's extremely jealous of the attention he's getting and will do anything to get the attention back on her. She stomps off to bed and shouts and her parents. In her sleep, she dreams of a creature called a Beastling. In her dream she is trying to get back home, but her dream is eaten by the Heebie Jeebies! Eventually, she meets the Dream Team, who make bad dreams better by making them positive. She learns that thinking calm thoughts rather than angry ones can make her nightmares shrink.

The book is beautifully illustrated in a similar style to Tom Percival's other books. The detail in the illustrations is perfect and I liked that he chose to use a black protagonist. There aren't enough books that children can relate to and every child should be able to find a book where they can say "they look like me".

This is a perfect book for children who have a new sibling at home. It's also highly entertaining even for those who don't!

Erika is in a very bad mood: her baby brother takes up so much of her parents’ time and attention, that she feels neglected and, in true older sibling tradition, feels that she is blamed for everything! To make things worse, when she falls asleep that night, her dream is eaten by some heebie-jeebies and runs the risk of never being able to return to her body…
Erika has to work with the motley crew of characters who make up the Dream Team and learn a lot about herself before her dream runs out. Children will recognise aspects of themselves in the characters and will have experienced some of Erika's feelings for themselves. An exciting and funny illustrated novel, ideal for years 3 and 4 who are developing some reading stamina.

This book by the author of Ruby's worry is for slightly older readers but still explores emotions and feelings.

The book tells the story of Erika who is angry at everything, especially as she now has a new baby in the house and her parents seem to be giving him all the attention. Because of this she goes to bed angry and ends up stuck in a dream. In the magical dream world she meets the Heebie-Jeebies, furry creatures that are not as cute as they look and The Dream Team who help her fight the angrymare (which proves to be more difficult than first anticipated).

There are lots of beautiful illustrations throughout and the descriptions of the setting are great too!

A sweet book about a girl fed up with a baby at home. For many children, the arrival of a younger sibling can mean many emotions- anger, sadness, jealousy. And for the parents, it means trying to divide time equally between children, which is exhausting when a new baby is in the house.
We follow a journey of learning to cope with emotions and it is a whirlwind at times.

We would buy this book as a library for those children with new siblings at home but also for for those looking for a funny story with new characters to be entertained by.

Highly illustrated and brilliant colours!

I picked up this book because my class of 6 and 7 year olds loved Tom Percival's picture books "Ravi's Roar" and Ruby's Worry", which dealt beautifully with tricky feelings and emotions. This is a short chapter book, perfect for Year 2 independent readers or sharing as a class.

Erika is dealing with jealous feelings towards her new baby brother Randall. She shouts at her parents and stomps off to bed. She ends up in a beautifully- described dream world (lots of scope for looking at setting descriptions here) and meets a strange furry little creature she calls a Beastling. The Beastling speaks in pictures, with a cartoon speech bubble appearing above its head! She later meets a Dream Team, who sort out angry dreams by sending positive emotions instead. This uses dream crystal, which the strange creatures have been eating.

It is a thrilling story, that I think 7 to 10 year olds would particularly enjoy. It contains lots of messages about dealing with negative emotions, especially dealing with anger and apologising for angry outbursts.

The book is illustrated in black, white and purple throughout, in Tom's usual realistic pencil style. I liked the fact that Erika Delgano is portrayed with a darker skin tone and curly black hair. I feel that all children could relate to her and her family.

From the author who gave us Ruby's Worry, comes a new story for the slightly older reader teaching a new set of kids how to understand some emotions that could overwhelm them.

Dream Team #1 follows Erika, who is angry at everyone. She is angry at her parents for seemingly forgetting about her and she is angry at her much younger brother for taking all their parents attention and getting away with being messy etc.

When she goes to sleep upset, she finds her self in a strange dream where she becomes attached to a heebie jeebie called Beastling, and meets the Dream Team Silas, Wade, Sim and Madam Hettyforth ! They try and help Erika get home but it turns out to be much more tricky with an Angermare on the hunt for her. The pacing of the book is kind of all over the place, but it finished strongly and was helped by the illustrations.

Through beautiful illustrations we explore anxiety and anger in children like Erika and watch as she grows to understand that though you are allowed to feel these emotions, you should never let them take over.

This book is perfect for any parent looking to start a conversation with their child or primary school libraries for kids to feel understood and their emotions acknowledged.

Tom Percival is amazing, he not only writes the stuff that kids want to read, funny, silly and plot based, but also seems to have an innate understanding of the character of a child. He also seems to understand autism spectrum behaviours and is able to integrate a little of them into his work. Good stuff!

I was very lucky to receive via Netgalley Dream Team #1 Attack of the Heebie Jeebies by Tom Percival which is a children's book that deals with childhood emotions. I must admit I nearly did not finish the book as the chapters were all over the place but when I saw the amazing illustrations I knew that I had to ignore this and read the book. Oh boy was it enjoyable. Our main character is Erika who goes to bed angry and ends up being in a dream where she is trying to get back home. On her journey she comes across the Dream Team who are a ramshackle team who protect their world called dream scape and little creatures know as Heebie Jeebies who might be furry but they have teeth. I loved that the kind of dream Erika was having was an angermare and the more Erika got angry the bigger the angermare got and when she realised that if she remained calmer the angermare shrank to size. For this reason I have to give this wonderful book 4 stars and look forward to a return journey to Dreamscape.