Perfectly disguised as a sugary sweet tale set in a charming confectionary shop, The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop is actually an action-packed spy novel. The literary equivalent of the Men in Black movies, this story is set in a world where ghosts, goblins and mermaids exist and a special MI-6 unit has the ability to erase the memories of those who see something they shouldn’t.
When the father of 11-year-old twins Oz and Lily Spoffard unexpectedly inherits his grandfather’s long defunct chocolate shop and the attached home in London, the family is blissfully unaware of the magical world that surrounds them. The day they move in, however, a talking cat and a smoking rat recruit the twins to help stop their evil great-great-uncle from selling his magic immortality chocolate recipe to foreign terrorists. But are the twins up to the task?
Oz, a quiet genius, longs to fit in with the cool kids but even he can’t deny that he will always be more adept with a violin bow than a soccer ball. And Lily’s dyslexia is a constant source of frustration that makes her question her own intelligence. Plus, how could they possibly help save the world when they don’t have a magical bone in their bodies?
Young readers will be drawn in by the incredible (and sometimes scary) magical world that Kate Saunders creates, but they will stay for the underlying story of the powerful bond between siblings and friends. The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop is a fun read for anyone with a sweet tooth and an ambition for espionage.
