Review of the ‘TooCool’ and ‘Marcy’ Series

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Review of the ‘TooCool’ and ‘Marcy’ Series

Written by Phil Kettle and Susan Halliday

Publisher: Ford Street Publishing

Age Range: 7 years+

Themes:  sports, friendships, outdoors, adventures, action

marcy-series-2-and-toocool-series-5

My name is Toocool, and I’m a legend!

I’m always after books for young readers just starting out on chapter books. The ‘TooCool’ and ‘Marcy’ books have been around for a while now and are perennially popular, but some great new titles have just been released.

The ‘TooCool’ books are squarely aimed at young boys, but I know plenty of sport loving girls who enjoy them as much as they enjoy the companion series, ‘Marcy’. The characters in ‘Marcy’ and ‘TooCool’ are the same so if children enjoy one series, they will enjoy seeing the characters in the other.

Children from around 7 years will feel confident reading the ‘TooCool’ and ‘Marcy’ books; the mix of illustrations and text is great. They can also be read by much older children and are often used with students who are experiencing difficulty with reading. The stories never speak down to the reader and they include topics from surfing to soccer to cowboys and waterslides, so they span a wide interest and age range. Lots of humour, action and sport, and some very likeable characters which children will engage with and want to keep reading about.

Phil Kettle has been writing the ‘TooCool’ books for some time now and he has ensured a mix of text types in the different titles in the series – there is some facts, diagrams, Q&A sections and some excellent jokes. Many other small chapter book series are formulaic and poorly written (even some of the wildly popular series, which I shan’t name!). ‘TooCool’ and ‘Marcy’ are not this – this is clever writing – care has been taken with these books.

The author of the ‘TooCool’ series, Phil Kettle, has some great words of encouragement and advice about young boys and reading here.

You can purchase the new sets of ‘Marcy’ and ‘TooCool’ (ten titles in total) at the moment on Booktopia for $81.95 – $8 a title isn’t bad value at all! Link to this special is here.

They can be purchased individually as here, and in bind up versions like this one, which has four books bound into one – these are excellent value.

Teaching notes are here.   toocool-park-games-gold

The title of each book takes you to the Australian based online bookstore Booktopia. If you live in the US or would prefer to use Amazon click here. If you live in the UK or would prefer to use Book Depository click here.

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Megan Daley Bio

Looking for more great book reviews and recommendations? I’m Megan Daley and you can find out more about me here.

My book recommendations (for babies to young adults) is here and you can peruse ALL of my reviews (searchable by age, genre and theme) here.

Check out my mini ebook, 'What to Read Next' or sign up for my FREE webinar, '3 Tips to Start the Best Book Club Ever'.

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7 Comments

  1. Michelle S on May 27, 2013 at 12:55 pm

    Haven’t heard of the too cool books before. Please add me to the competition – sounds perfect for my boys. Thanks for the blog and the recommendations…

  2. Margaret thompson on May 27, 2013 at 1:29 pm

    Great books….we have them on the library and use them …….great first chapter books and engaging titles…..

  3. Sarah O'Donoghue on May 27, 2013 at 5:14 pm

    These would be fabulous for my nephew and niece! I remember when the series first came out in my early teaching days….oh dear starting to feel old now! Xo

  4. Ashleigh Walters on May 27, 2013 at 5:21 pm

    Would love to add these books to my classroom resources. Always on the look for books that might engage boys in reading. Love your work M.

  5. Sandy Addison on May 27, 2013 at 7:59 pm

    All ways on the look out for books for the boys, These look like a good read and are the perfect age for my boys 🙂

  6. Nikki C on May 27, 2013 at 9:49 pm

    My son has read and enjoyed some of the Too Cool series but I was unaware of the Marcy series, my little miss is just starting on chapter books so I will keep and eye out for those.

  7. Amy on Jun 4, 2013 at 10:03 pm

    Sounds like a fantastic series. I have a daughter who can’t get enough of chapter books, they would suit her down to the ground.

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