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Lucas Maxwell - Editorial Expert
Originally from Nova Scotia, Canada, Lucas Maxwell grew up on Nintendo, comic books and Dungeons and Dragons. He has failed at many jobs throughout his life, including fisherman, door-to-door salesman and slaughterhouse droid.
As a librarian, he has been working with youth for over fifteen years and is passionate about promoting the freedom to read and providing safe and welcoming spaces for everyone.
In 2017 he was named the UK's School Librarian of the Year by the School Library Association. In 2022 he won the UK Literacy Association's Reading For Pleasure Champion Award. In 2024 he was awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for his services to libraries & education.
He is the winner of the 2024 Times - Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition. He is very proud to be a neurodivergent writer and very grateful to be adding his voice to the world of children's literature. He currently resides in the UK with his amazing family and the laziest chocolate lab in the world.
In Pizza and Taco: Super Awesome Comic, Pizza and Taco come up with a brilliant plan to create their own comic book. It’s a great plan, and what I enjoy is how they decide who is the better illustrator and who is the better storyteller, something that children will enjoy discussing with older readers as they fly through this hilarious tale.
I loved how they couldn’t decide between a superhero or fantasy-based comic so decided to mash the two genres together. What they create are hilarious, ‘so bad they’re good’ looking drawings ... View Full Review
In Best Party Ever, Pizza and Taco are very bored and when standing up and sitting down doesn’t cut it, they decide to launch a super cool party!
Hilarity ensues when they struggle to decide who to invite, like the Chicken Tender twins, Hamburger’s grumpy cousin, Cheeseburger and so on. Then they move on to planning the actual party.
Disaster strikes when they discover the water park, where they wanted to have their party, is closed and things get even worse when they discover the cool banner they ordered has a major spelling mistake.
I won&... View Full Review
In Who’s the Best? Pizza and Taco are discussing how they are best friends, how they finish each other’s sentences and like all the same things when they come up with a problem. Between them, who actually is better?
When they can’t decide, they choose to hold a competition. To do this, they ask their friends to vote which one of them is the best. When they accuse each other of rigging the votes, they move to feats of agility and strength to find the answer.
What follows are a series of really funny ... View Full Review
Rex Rocket is a disgraced space soldier who has recently been kicked out of S.T.A.R.R. Command by the forever-grumpy General Dill (who is a talking pickle, of course).
Now Rex has command of his own crew of misfit space-explorers, General Dill sends a team after him to prove that Rex is completely incompetent in the hopes he’ll have his crew taken away from him.
As Rex flies his spaceship, which is in the shape of a giant hot dog in a bun, he fights giant housefly drones, giant Platypus robots, explores space caverns and ... View Full Review
Xavier Oak is a thirteen-year-old who’d rather be doing anything besides embarking on a summer trip with his father and pregnant stepmother. He’d much rather stay home with his brother and mother or play Dungeons and Dragons with Selena, the coolest girl around. Despite all of this, Xavier resigns himself to his fate and goes on the trip to the cottage by the lake.
The problem? When he wakes up on his second day at the cottage, the lake is…gone.
It’s like the cottage itself has been plucked ... View Full Review
Pizza and Taco: Too Cool for School is another hilarious look at two best friends who happen to be a slice of pizza and a taco. This is a fantastic series perfect for fans of Bunny vs. Monkey and Looshkin.
In Too Cool for School, Pizza and Taco feel that they have everything they need to be ready to go back to school. They’ve got hip new backpacks and are feeling confident. Everything’s in place except for how they’re going to deal with the new kid, B.L.T.
B.L.T. is no ... View Full Review
Pizza and Taco: Rock Out! is a gut-bustingly funny graphic novel which is perfect for fans of Bunny vs. Monkey, InvestiGators and Cat Kid Comic Club.
In Rock Out! Pizza and Taco decide to try and form their own garage band. I loved the play on words with the different band names, which is of course a very important part of the band- forming process. Names like Jam Jett and the Food Fighters will have adults giggling along with younger readers.
I love how the duo puts a band together but realise that they haven’t written any songs. ... View Full Review
The Horse Dreamer is a beautifully told story that takes a strong look at loss, friendship and belonging. It’s perfect for anyone who loves Lauren St. John, animals and a little bit of intrigue and mystery.
Merryn is a young girl who feels lost in life and is coping with a tragic loss in her family. As the family she once knew begins to fall apart, she is forced to confront the cold reality that everything she loves may be slipping away.
When a brutal storm rages through her home, she finds Sorrel, a horse who is wild ... View Full Review
A hilarious and vibrant graphic novel with beloved characters is back with its third installment. Donut Squad is perfect for fans of Bunny vs. Monkey with its mind-twisting comedic beats and fast paced action.
In this story, the Donuts have returned from the future, a future that bans donuts from existing. They have one goal, stop this nightmare from becoming a reality. With characters like Anxiety Donut, Caramel Jack and Godonut, it’s guaranteed to keep children reading, laughing and talking about the stories.
As a librarian, I love these comics because they keep students coming back for more. ... View Full Review
In Intergalactic Monkey Business we are introduced to Little Monkey who is somehow more chaotic and bizarre than our friend, the titular Monkey of Bunny vs. Monkey fame. To work out who or what Little Monkey is, Bunny and co. launch an investigation only to end up in outer space!
Bunny vs. Monkey is a phenomenon that has earned it’s place amongst the top selling comics because it’s like Smart has been suffering a fever dream for the past decade and everything is just spilling out onto the page. With chapters entitled, “Guts N&... View Full Review
Reading through Stuck on Hard Mode by Erin Philips made me wish I had something like this twenty years ago.
Written with gamers in mind, it’s a truly useful guide for anyone feeling overwhelmed with being neurodivergent. The book is crammed full of useful advice, tips and anecdotes that, as a neurodivergent person, was like weight off my chest. I love the analogy that being neurodivergent is like playing a game stuck on hard or Legendary mode all the time. It fits perfectly with how many ND people feel on a daily basis. And to be clear, the ... View Full Review
A brand new installment in a soon to be series, Squid Bits: That’s a Nice Hat! by Jess Bradley is sure-fire hit. I say this because as a high school librarian, I’m seeing the meteoric rise in popularity in comics that are off the rails and completely fun to read.
Books like Donut Squad, Megalomaniacs and Bunny vs Monkey simply do not stay on our library shelves and this will be a welcome addition to that area of our comic book section in the library and home bookshelves.
What readers will find in Squid Bits are ... View Full Review
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