Review: Call the Puffins! Tiny and the Cave Ghost written by Cath Howe, illustrated by Ella Okstad

Cover image Ella Okstad, published by Hachette Children’s Books, 13 March 2025,
ISBN: 978-1804536407

Welcome back to the Island of Egg for the fourth adventure featuring young puffin Tiny and his friends who are training to be rescue puffins. Each evening, as the pufflings settle down to sleep in their underground burrows, Old Kintyre tells them a story, and this time he recounts the legend of ‘the wandering puffin’ who is said to haunt the labyrinth of caves under the island. Tiny is determined to never set foot in the caves!

However, when a young chick, Flotsam, goes missing during Puffin Power training (slippery log challenge, rock rolling, puffin pyramid building) and there is no sign of her on the beach, there is no choice but to search the caves. Tiny has to muster every drop of his courage to keep walking through the claustrophobic space, driven on by his concern for the fluffy chick. It looks as if the young puffin rescue team might have to put their training into practice sooner than expected! During their underground adventure the Puffin Rescue cadets learn how much power they can gain from working together and discover their beaks’ ability to glow in the dark. The end notes contain some factual information about puffins.

Like the previous three books in this series, Tiny and the Cave Ghost is perfectly pitched for newly independent readers of 6+. The book is exactly the right size for small hands to hold comfortably, the font is clear with lots of white space and the text is broken up with Ella Okstad’s cute and expressive black and white illustrations. In just over 100 pages, author Cath Howe has constructed an exciting adventure with just the right level of jeopardy for young readers; it will keep them enthralled without scaring them. A while ago I listened to the brilliant Australian teacher-librarian, Megan Daley, talk about the importance of book series for young readers because familiarity with recurring characters makes reading and comprehension less challenging (I’m afraid that I can’t remember which episode, but you can explore the Your Kid’s Next Read podcast here). I would highly recommend the Call the Puffins! series to all librarians, parents and caregivers who want to put a highly enjoyable and gentle adventure into the hands of a young, emerging reader.

Disclaimer: I was sent a review copy of Call the Puffins! Tiny and the Cave Ghost by publicist Antonia Wilkinson and publisher Hachette Children’s Books. It was my decsion to write a review and all opinions are my own (unless otherwise stated).

I have reviewed the previous titles in this series, you can read the reviews by clicking on the links below:

Call the Puffins!

Tiny’s Brave Rescue

Muffin and the Shipwreck

#Review: Call the Puffins! – Muffin and the Shipwreck by Cath Howe and Ella Okstad

Cover art by Ella Okstad, published by Hachette Children’s, 06 June 2024, ISBN: 978-1801301206

I am delighted to see the unflappable heroes of Team Puffin flying in for a third adventure on the Island of Egg. You can read my reviews of the first and second adventures here and here . These brave little puffins have captured the hearts of many young readers who I am sure will be thrilled to join Muffin, Tiny and the squadron of rescue puffins on another mission.

There are new recruits in the team, including the reckless Forti, a rather arrogant youngster who has yet to learn that responsibility needs to come before fun! When the northern isles are battered by a ferocious storm, the puffins huddle in the safety of their underground burrows, listening to the ancient tales of shipwrecked treasure recounted by old Kintyre. However, one young puffin is so caught up in the idea of finding treasure that he ignores the warning that visiting a shipwreck leads to impending doom! When the puffins are set a beach combing task the following morning to achieve their Better Together badge, Forti swims off to have fun on an ancient wreck which the storm has lifted from the depths. An encounter with an octopus looks as if it might fulfil Kintyre’s doom-laden prophecy…unless Muffin, Tiny and their team can work together on a successful rescue mission! There is just the right amount of peril to make the book exciting but not frightening for the intended age range, and like previous books in the series, there are some puffin facts to discover at the end of the book.

I have written in a previous post Call the Puffins! about the thoughtful design factors that make this series so ideal for children who are gaining confidence in reading independently. I’ll add here that familiarity with the characters and setting in a series, adds to the appeal, ease and enjoyment of reading for this cohort of children. I hope that this series continues to grow so that children learn to enjoy recreational reading with this cast of cute characters who are brought to life brilliantly by Cath Howe’s writing and Ella Okstad’s artwork. I highly recommend Muffin and the Shipwreck to primary school librarians, Key Stage 1 class teachers and parents and caregivers of children aged 5 to 7 years.

Disclaimer: I was sent a preview copy of this book by Antonia Wilkinson PR and Hachette Children’s Group in exchange for my honest opinion.

Review: Call the Puffins! Tiny’s Brave Rescue by Cath Howe, illustrated by Ella Okstad

Cover art by Ella Okstad, published by Welbeck Children’s,
12 October 2023 ISBN: 9781801300599

Young readers will be swooping in to read this second Call the Puffins! adventure about a flock of trainee rescue seabirds with hearts as big as their beaks!

Cath Howe and Ella Okstad have conjured up another fabulously appealing book which is perfect for children of 6 to 8 years old who are gaining confidence in independent reading. Who could resist those adorable pufflings on the cover? Cath Howe’s gentle adventure is fully illustrated in black and white, is printed in a well-spaced clear font and the book itself is the ideal size and length for young readers.

Tiny and best friend Muffin are getting used to life amongst the rescue colony and enjoying learning from the experienced and brave senior puffins on the Island of Egg. The young puffin cadets who are training to join the intrepid Yellow Caps bird and egg rescue squadron are working on their skills to earn a Caring Badge when a rescue mission is called in. Their services are required to rescue a seabird egg which has been trapped under a bucket on a nearby beach. This rescue will require co-ordinated teamwork, but Tiny seems to be making a lot of mistakes and only some sandy good luck prevents disaster. When it becomes clear that there is something amiss with Tiny’s vision, the fitting of his new ‘Specks’ is told in a way that will be recognisable and reassuring to those young children who wear glasses. I loved that reflection of early childhood experience when I encountered it it the first book in the series, Call the Puffins!, and I hope and suspect that it might be a repeated component of future books in the series. Similarly, it is lovely to again learn some new facts about puffins in the non-fiction pages at the end of the book.

I highly recommend Call the Puffins: Tiny’s Brave Rescue for children of 6 to 8 years old and am very grateful to Welbeck Children’s Books and Antonia Wilkinson for sending me a review copy in return for my honest opinion.

Review: Call the Puffins! by Cathy Howe, illustrated by Ella Okstad

Cover image by Ella Okstad, published by Welbeck Publishing, 2nd March 2023

It is time for Muffin the Puffin to leave the safety of the underground burrow she has shared with mum and dad and fly with them to the Island of Egg to join the puffin training colony. On the one wing she is excited to begin her training but on the other wing, worried about passing the training challenges required to be recruited into “the Unflappables” the elite corps of rescue puffins!

This gentle and fun tale of teamwork, hard work and purpose, which reflects children’s experiences of being in new surroundings or joining a new class or a club, models the behaviour that enables friendship development, wrapped in a flapping good story. Cath Howe brings all the skill that I have admired in her books for a middle grade audience, this time delivering drama, humour and the cutest bundles of feathers imaginable. The greyscale illustrations by Ella Okstad are full of life and joy and I am sure will make young readers want to discover more about these beautiful seabirds. Fortunately this can start in the non-fiction section at the end of the book, providing some fun facts about puffins.

Call the Puffins! has been carefully designed to appeal to children who are gaining confidence as independent readers. The font is clear and nicely sized, with plenty of white space. The short chapters, 120 page length and liberal use of illustrations ensure that youngsters can gain that sense of achievement that results from being able to read a whole book and I am sure that this is a book that children will be queueing to borrow from the classroom or library shelves. An ideal choice for children of 6-8 years old.

My thanks to Welbeck Publishing and Antonia Wilkinson for my review copy of Call the Puffins! which was published on 2nd March 2023 and is available from book sellers now.

Review: Ella on the Outside by Cath Howe

ella outside

Recently I have been reading a number of books recommended by EmpathyLabUK in preparation for Empathy Week at school; I think this one is perfectly pitched for Year 5 pupils…

Ella is feeling as if her life has been smashed apart like the watermelon that she once watched exploding in slow motion on a YouTube video. Along with her mother and younger brother, Jack, she has had to move house and leave her old school and her lifelong best friend and start a new life without her Dad. She describes her emptiness early in the book, “Me being without Grace today hurt like bare feet outside in winter.”

She feels lonely and awkward on her first day at her new school, unsure of the classroom dynamics and very much “on the edge” in the playground. As well as harbouring a secret, which her Mum doesn’t want her to talk about, she is also very self-conscious about her angry, red eczema and her sense of isolation at the beginning of the story is palpable.

The author, Cath Howe, presents a totally believable school dynamic, with completely authentic primary school characters. The reader senses Ella’s growing unease as she is first befriended, but then manipulated by the classroom “Queen Bee” Lydia. Her desperation for friendship leads Ella to act in a way that she knows is wrong. Will she be able to put matters right and find a true friend in the shy, silent Molly who sits alone at the back of the class protecting her own secret pain?

This book is written in a straightforward style, and would be easily accessible to readers aged 10 and upwards. The publishers Nosy Crow have produced a paperback with a lovely font which really adds to the enjoyment of reading this book. Many complex topics are covered including bullying, isolation, mental illness, imprisonment and young carers and this story is a wonderful addition to the read-for-empathy collection in any school library. I particularly enjoyed the author’s clever use of Ella observing the world through her camera lens as a metaphor for her outside observer status, and the clutter in Molly’s house illustrating the obstacles that have to be cleared and negotiated in most people’s lives. I think that readers from Year 5 and upwards will find Ella to be a sympathetic protagonist and will be quickly drawn into enjoying this story.