It would certainly help coming to this first sequel knowing something about why our human heroine is friends with a yeti, a dinosaur, a dodo and Nessie, if not more prehistoric/legendary beasties. But what is important is to know that some people in town don't like the way these critters have been proven to be in the community, now their disguises have been seen through. So much so that when a school fair is held, and a whole tent load of guinea pigs goes missing, it's immediately thought that Rex has eaten them all for a snack. The truth, however, is much more bonkers…

There's no end to the silliness in the plot here, but it's nice to report it's the enjoyable silliness, and not a case of being daffy for daffy's sake. Add in a blatant parody of Trump and his politics and you have a most peculiar, but still a quickly-absorbed and highly eventful, lark. It's a nice read for older primary school kids, with a sweep from humdrum back garden to, well, intergalactic guinea pigs, that does its very best to be a natural, sensible progression. I can see how it would only be improved if we'd got to know and like these characters already, and on that basis at least this is a four stars – even without the prequel to hand it's still a lively affair.

When Rex the dinosaur PE teacher is blamed for the missing school guinea pigs, he goes on a space mission with his friend to clear his name. This is lots of fun and I love the layout, which makes this a good choice for early, and less confident, readers.

My little one loved reading along with this story!

The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous 😍

Who would think a dinosaur can be disguised as an alien 👽

Rex is a dinosaur in disguise as a PE teacher (but not really as most people know he's a dinosaur). On sports day, all the guinea pigs disappear and Rex gets blamed for eating them. Rex and Sandra (one of his friends) go on a space mission to investigate.

I requested this to read with my son without realising it was book 2 of the series. The book makes sense by itself but some of the story is obviously referencing the 1st book.

I thought this was excellent for age 7+ - the story is silly with excellent details (a dinosaur, Nessie, a yeti and a dodo are all part of the town). The illustrations are great (look for the alien trying to get back into their human suit).

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced ebook copy in exchange for an honest review.