posted on 02 Jun 2024

A Spy in the Jam Factory by Chrissie Sains, illustrated by Jenny Taylor

For any young reader who likes an unusual and gripping story featuring aliens, this is one for you to relish.  Alien, Fizzbee, who is making her fourth appearance in this series based in a Jam Factory, is not at all scary. She is central to the fortunes of the factory because she is so inventive at creating new tasty flavours of jam that have extraordinary additional properties. Most of them are very successful, but recently these have caused some problems - including floating children and giant vegetables. She is starting to feel that she doesn’t belong and also misses her own family dreadfully.

Once again, her human helper is Scooter who is determined to work with his friends to restore her popularity. He and his family do their best to reassure Mayor Green that all future jam products will be rigorously tested before they are released for public consumption, but they are up against some big challenges, including the sinister Agent Fleur De Vious who hates all aliens and is determined to get rid of any that she comes across.

I read this one aloud with my five and seven year old grandsons who quickly became engrossed with the eventful plot. They were also keen to spend time looking at the plentiful illustrations that added detailed depth to the characters. They particularly liked the helpful robotic Hand-Bots who helped to organise the powerful jams. They were also intrigued by Fizzbee’s tiny spaceship that presumably contains everything she wants when she needs privacy. Scooter understands why Fizzbee needs to feel competent, liked and appreciated despite being an ‘outsider.’  

As a boy with Cerebral Palsy, he has sometimes found it difficult to physically do things. However, he is a creative boy with a brain that:

‘constantly bubbled with ideas and inventions, as well as a determination that rivalled a salmon swimming up a waterfall.’  

We liked the way in which the baddie with her robot sidekick, ’Bottie’ has to resort to complicated and dastardly plans to get rid of Fizzbee and to sabotage the long awaited delicious new product: candy floss- like jam clouds. We compared these and other inventions to those in ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ by Roald Dahl and started to think up some of our own. I am sure that other imaginative readers will be tempted to do the same. 

Will the effects of the jam clouds cause the village people to reject Fizzbee forever? Or can Scooter and his friends find a way to eventually outwit her enemies? There are plenty of ups and downs along the way to resolving these questions which compel the reader to keep guessing and cheering on the protagonists.

I recommend this very funny illustrated story published by Walker Books which should be available from your local independent bookshop – who will be happy to order it for you if they don’t have it on their shelves.

Karen Argent

May 2024