Alan, King of the Universe

"Tom McLaughlin is a relatively well-known author, among others he has written The Accidental series , but until recently I hadn’t realised that he also does illustrations. It’s a graphic novel, and it’s a book that kids find irresistibly funny. That sense of joy is why it matters so much. I’m not surprised, he really seems to understand children and what they find humorous. Alan, King of the Universe is made up of five short stories. I would say it’s for ages 7+. Each story follows Alan, who is a very confident cat, determined to take over the universe alongside his loyal friend Fido, a dog who helps carry out the plans. The humour comes from the fact that Alan is brimming with big ideas and absolute self-belief, but not much practical sense. Fido, on the other hand, is thoughtful, creative and quietly competent. That classic dynamic of the overconfident leader and the smart sidekick is something I think that children enjoy immensely, and it’s played to brilliant effect here. Their attempts at world domination are imaginative, enthusiastic and completely doomed, which makes the stories all the more satisfying. From a child’s reading perspective, the short story structure is spot on and it makes the book very approachable. Children can dip in and out, they can read one story at a time or fly through the whole book. That flexibility is incredibly helpful for developing readers and for children who might struggle with longer, more continuous narratives. Most of our readers flew through the whole book and loved it, and many parents said they heard their children giggling while reading, which I think is the best possible recommendation. The graphic novel format does a huge amount of work, so reading it doesn’t feel like hard work. The visual storytelling carries the jokes, the timing, the emotional beats, while the text remains punchy and accessible. Decoding images and words together strengthens comprehension, sequencing, and inference, which is why graphic novels should never be underestimated. And I love how creative Alan and Fido’s partnership is. It’s wildly imaginative, even if the two of them are not very good at executing their plans. I think that celebration of creativity, failure, and trying again is a quiet but really important theme. So this book is very re-readable and a perfect example of how graphic novels can hook children into reading through humour and imagination. I’m a huge fan of graphic novels. My daughter devours them, and so do many of her friends, and I think it’s one of those things that adults are coming round to. There used to be this idea that graphic novels were a stage that you would grow out of, a stepping stone to long-form fiction, but I think the more we encourage children to read books that they genuinely enjoy — and they clearly love graphic novels — the more likely they are to keep reading. There are fantastic graphic novels for ages 7 to 70 now, so there’s no need to force them to move on to long-form fiction if it risks damaging their enjoyment of reading in the long term."