A weird story, actually quite disarmingly so. It's about how we deal with bullies, and features a child character with a depressed mother, but is set in a world of animals at school. So our hero is one of three monitor lizards chosen to be hall monitors, just coincidentally of course, we have a secondary character who SHOUTS IN CAPS all the time – and the main lizard has the actual that there France, on his knee, due to an ancient family curse. Of course. It's all done in a kind of knockabout way, with witty use of chapter titles that repeat or go OTT on the foreboding, as necessary, but for great swathes that knockaboutness really does make you doubt the point of all this. It truly is a game of 'trust the author' – and with someone else at the helm I may have been persuaded to think this not for me and ditch it. It's also written in a way that makes me feel this is very American, which could further throw the reader for whom hall monitors are unknown quantities, and supply staff in schools mean something way different to what we have here.

The fact this really won't be for everyone – and I include the target audience in being divided over that – makes me think this wasn't quite working as intended. It almost felt like it was a minor Ness, BY DESIGN, and gets a minor score as a result – three and a half stars.

Very funny, issue-filled animal school surprise from Ness.

I've read almost every Ness YA novel. And loved them. Seeing his name attached to a book intended for a younger market was a surprise, but I grabbed this instantly.

For a few pages I wasn't sure what I was reading, but when I clicked and I realised the simple-seeming 'school bully' story was actually a lot more than that, I trusted in the writing and enjoyed it.

It's definitely got its age range firmly in mind - two best monitor lizard friends are working out that Principal Wombat (yes he is) has given them 'hall monitor' sashes because of their breed. Even if one of them is tiny, and the school bullies ignore their new status anyway.

Zeke is already sensitive that he's on the large size too, but with his Mum at home being followed around by a 'black dog' since his dad died, and now a new student, a blind hawk screeching out strange and deep thoughts at them, there's already a lot on his plate. And that's not to mention son-of-a-local-supervillain Pelicarnassus, the class bully and with his sights set firmly on taking down Zeke and his friends after a run-in.

What feels like a standard issue story somehow transforms into an all-out quirky hero-fest by the end, which may come as a surprise to readers (and any parents sharing the story). This definitely takes the genre further than most, probably with Ness's experience of The Rest of Us Just Live Here in mind.

Over-the-top in some respects, and very down-t0-earth in others, with some memorable and realistic characters housed in animal skins. Never would have thought to see an evil bully pelican, so there you go.

Great black and white illustrations add to the story and do help you picture the interacting breeds and species in this unique school.

For ages 8/9 and above.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.

Loved the animal characters of this book. Gets the tricky balance right between being a bit daft and conveying some important messages and themes such as bullying, depression and identity. One for younger readers but will still have appeal for Y7.

A super funny, super fastpaced tale featuring lizards... of course!! Love the illustrations which really added to the humour.

This is a heartwarming and humorous book. The titular character is a lizard and the other characters are all anthropomorphic animals, but they are easily relatable characters to children.

This was just lush. Zeke is a wonderful lizard and he’s got some brilliant friends. I chuckled along to this. It’s touching and it’s warm; the stuff with his mam just made me want to hug them both. It’s silly at times. The hawk really made me laugh. Recommend to all. I loved the illustrations throughout too.

I read this for myself and restarted reading it with my child.
This is such a unique idea about France (France on a knee, France on a lizard’s knee) and lizard characters and it is hilarious.

Magnificent! I haven't giggled this much since the Wilf (Georgia Pritchett), Bad Guys (Aaron Blabey) or Mort (Rachel Delahaye) series.

It is a story that gets more and more bizarre to the point that you wonder how on earth the author came in with it so I am not going to reveal anything here, other than to say that this is a school-based story, featuring lots of animals, a villain with trusty sidekicks and more than one hero saving the day. It also addresses some serious issues including depression, the loss of a parent and bullying, in a sensitive manner.

My only criticism is that the book contains the words "ass" and "crappy" and, as this is language that I would not accept from the 4-11 year olds I work with, I won't be able to promote this book in school for children to read independently. If given the opportunity, I would happily read this to a class or group as I think it's brilliant and I can edit as I read but this would greatly reduce the reach of what I know would otherwise be a very popular book.

I ADORED this book. I don't know how Patrick Ness manages to get so much pathos into a story about a monitor lizard with France on his knee but he really does. It was sweet, kind, adorable and utterly bonkers but in a gigantic warm hug of a way. More please!