Jack's mum insists he has new school shoes and the only ones they can find are horrid, black lace-ups. They are so stiff, noisy and uncomfortable that Jack suspects they must be monster shoes, especially when they seem to kick his classmates for no reason and make the football go in completely the wrong direction at playtime.

(Paperback)

When Ben's father has to suddenly go away over the half-term holiday, he has a big surprise for Ben - a very special robot to take his place. The only problem is that like lots of Dad's robots, this one doesn't quite work as well as expected.