 Hi everyone, my name is Steph, this is Little Bookish Teacher, and I read the 16 Books in the Bad Guys series by Aaron Blaby. So as I've talked about on my channel, I am a primary school teacher based in Melbourne, Australia, and I love everything to do with kids books. And in 2022, I was a foundation teacher. Foundation is the first year of formal schooling, so it could be called Kinder, it could be called Prep depending on where you are in the world. And my class last year were humongous readers. They loved books, they loved to read, and their favorite series overall across the board was the Bad Guys series by Aaron Blaby. At the start of the year, I did not own a single one of these books, but they wore me down throughout the year, and we had to get them because they would just sit there and read them. And even if they couldn't read them, they were reading the pictures and they were telling me, I can't read it, I'm just looking at the pictures, but I know what's going on in the story. And that's great because these are five and six year olds who want to pick up a book like this that has chapters and more writing than they're used to seeing in books that they're reading. They want to sit there and they want to read it and they wanted to read them with their friends. And so of course, of course, I had to get the books. My intention had been at the time to read them before I gave them to the kids, which is what I would normally do before I put anything on the bookshelf for the kids. However, I do trust Aaron Blaby's work, I've been reading his work for many, many years. I know the way that he writes. And as soon as they saw that I had the books, I had to go on the shelf. And then I never saw the books again. So until the end of the year. Because every time that I might grab one of the books, they're like, oh, can I have that one back? Yeah, these books were very rarely actually on the bookshelf. They were always in the hands of kids. And so I thought that it would be a great time over the school holidays to actually sit down and read the series from start to finish. And I'm so glad that I did because I had an absolute ball reading them. For anyone who is not familiar with the series, the bad guys is about the traditional bad guys from kid stories like the Big Bad Wolf and sharks and snakes and piranhas and tarantulas and whatnot. Mr. Wolf has decided that he no longer wants to be a bad guy, he's sick of his reputation, he wants to reform himself and his friends. And so he proposes that they become the good guys. In order to do that, they're going to do things that help society like rescue kittens out of trees. And in the case of the first book, you know, breaking a whole lot of dogs out of a pound and all of that sort of thing. But of course, nothing is ever as simple as that. And they end up running a fowl of a villain called Dr. Marmalade, who appears to be a very cute and fluffy hamster. And as you read the series, you will find out that maybe outward appearances are a bit deceiving. At the end of this video, I'm going to actually have clips of me reading each book in the series. So it does feature spoilers. So this is the spoilery, spoilery free section and my thoughts on the series. And then I'll pop all those clips in at the end so that you can get my immediate reactions. Because when I tell you that I have not laughed so hard in a long time while reading a kids book series, I'm not kidding. These books are very funny, very clever. There's a whole lot of puns in there. There's a whole lot of references to contemporary celebrities and issues and just things that as an adult, you sit there and go, that's clever. Do I think that those references will always match the level of the kids who are reading it? No, I don't think so. I think this has been written with a high interest level for kids, while also a high interest level for the parents who will have to read these books to the kids. And I think that is perfect. So some more thoughts before I jump into the spoilery section. I love this idea of trying to reform bad characters into being good guys and this idea of perception. How do we perceive other people's actions? And also the idea of characters who are struggling with the concept of going against their nature. A case in point will be Mr Snake who really struggles with this idea of doing things that are not natural to him. I adored the puns the whole way through the book. I just about fell off the chair laughing so many times while reading these and like full on out loud laughed at like not just a chuckle like full on laughter while reading these books. They're just so very clever. Now the one thing I will say about the series, there are currently 16 books out. Book 17 is coming out later in the year. The first 10 books in the series are basically like season one and they have a very different tone to everything from book 11 onwards. Book 11 onwards gets quite dark. Something that I really liked about the second season is the characters start to break the fourth wall which means that they're talking to us as the audience. So when they're referencing something that happened in the first 10 books one of the characters might you know just go you know that thing that happened in episode four maybe around page 155 and it's that call back to what's happened previously for people who may be coming into these books later and who may not have read it or who may have forgotten because there's 16 books in a series. I loved all the subtle nods to popular fiction. You know there are nods in here to Star Wars. There's a reference to Beyonce. There are lots and lots of film and TV and quote references to various things and as an adult reader that made it very very enjoyable. These books all do end on a cliffhanger. They're very serialized in that way so you start reading one and you have to keep reading because the story leads you into the next one which is a very clever way to do kids books. Lots of kids books series do this because that you know gets the kids to ask their parents to buy the next book but it is also a really good way to get kids to keep reading because they're invested. I also know that there is a movie which I have not seen yet which I would probably like to at some point. I had a really great time reading these books so I'm going to cut to all of my little vlog reactions for each of the books and then we'll come back at the end. Hi everyone so something that I forgot to mention that I'm going to put at the start of these vlog clips in regards to the bad guys is the format of the book. So they are a reasonable sized book. There's about 140 pages in each of the first season and then it jumps up to about 180 pages in from book 11 onwards but these are kind of across between an early reader and a graphic novel so you have very little text on each page. You have very panel like sections in the book. It's fine. So it does start to read more like a graphic novel because you don't have the same narrative direction in between all of the stories so there's quite a lot of dialogue and then if you need extra information then you might get that but you don't have the in between. So I consider this more a graphic novel for younger readers. I'm going to start my very first bad guys book. I'm starting obviously with episode one. I have 16 episodes to get through and I'm hoping to get through one a day so I figured I would just share my thoughts as I read each episode. I'm excited to read this series that my class were absolutely obsessed with last year so this is obviously an introduction to the series and the characters. You have Mr. Wolf, Mr. Shark, Mr. Snake and Mr. Piranha and the wolf is narrating the story. It is very much told in a comic art style for younger readers and you have Mr. Wolf who has decided that he wants to become a good guy and is working to convince us the reader and also his friends that they can do good. So this book involves rescuing cat up a tree and also rescuing some dogs from the pound and it's actually quite funny the humor in it is pretty good so I'm looking forward to reading the next book. Another day, another bad guys book. This is episode two, Mission Unpluckable. We are introduced to a new character, Legs, who is a tarantula who totally scares the pants of Mr. Shark which is hilarious and the gang are trying to free chickens from cages on a chicken farm. So it's quite funny and I think it introduces an antagonist for the series as well at the very end which is kind of clever and yeah I will let you know what I think of the third book when I get to it. Okay so I just finished episode three of The Bad Guys. The furball strikes back. In this one we meet the villain who is an evil billionaire mad scientist Hamster. He ends up kidnapping the bad guys and honestly I was just laughing so hard when three of the bad guys are just arguing with one another over who was the person who got them in this mess and who's responsible for it. It was just very funny and I like that we also meet Agent Fox in this one who is part of the International League of Heroes. So yes, can't wait to see where the story goes next because now we have zombie kittens. Hi everyone, I know this is the next clip in this video but it's been a while for me. I am going to be reading books four, five and six in The Bad Guys series today and sharing my thoughts on them. So it's been about a week and a half since I read the third book so now we're going to continue. Book four is Attack of the Zittans and Dr Rupert Marmalade has unleashed his zombie kittens on the world and everyone is frantically trying to figure out how to survive the Zitten apocalypse and it's just very funny and the zombie kittens were kind of adorable. Book five is intergalactic gas and I can see why the kids really love this one because there are plenty of fart jokes in here but it was very funny and took a turn at the very end that I was totally not expecting. Anyway, Mr Wolf and the Gang have to go into space to stop Dr Marmalade's zombie-making laser thing and hijinks and chew. Okay, we're going to read one more today. Book six is Alien vs. Bad Guys so one of the reveals is that our villain is not actually from Earth, Marmalade is an alien and very hell-bent on destroying Earth and bringing along all of its friends as well and quite liked the ending on this one because now I know that there are going to be dinosaurs in the next book. So stay tuned, I will continue reading the series very soon. New day, some more Bad Guys books so I just read episode seven and this one is Do You Think You Saw Us and our Bad Guys or Good Guys are trapped in the past where they have to deal with being chased by plenty of dinosaurs and then find a way to get back to the present today to save Agent Fox from the aliens invading Earth. Very fun, great installment and at the back there was a little sort of like a mini episode with Dr Marmalade telling all about how he's conquered Earth and you know all of his nefarious plans so it was very cute and fun. So episode eight is Super Bad and in this one our Bad Guys end up finally meeting the International League of Heroes and all of its members, not just Agent Fox and they go through their training montage because they have now acquired superpowers and they need training and this of course provides a whole lot of hilarity as they try and figure out how to use their newfound powers. That cliffhanger though is something so I've got to keep reading to find out what happens next. So episode nine is The Big Bad Wolf and Mr Wolf has unfortunately had a bit of a mishap and is a giant rampaging wolf through the city and this is not good because people are not confused if he's is he a good guy or a bad guy and it's up to his team to save him and it comes down to Mr Snake who has had a bit of an antagonistic relationship with the rest of the bad guys throughout the series and to try and talk Mr Wolf back into his usual self. Again another ginormous cliffhanger that is going to have to wait till tomorrow so the twists and turns just keep coming. So there are currently some reading sprints on Ashley's channel she's bookish from I'll leave her link down below and I decided I'm going to try and finish off the Bad Guy series so I just finished book 10 which is the baddest day ever and this is where everyone thinks everything is lost and the international league of heroes and the bad guys or the good guys have to get together and try and save the world. While morning friend this has the end of or supposed end of the arc for Dr Marmalade which is quite funny in the end I laughed out loud quite a bit in this book. This is clearly written for kids but the humor in it is so accessible for adults it is just so much fun. So I'm going to go straight into book 11 now and then I'll update you on that one. Book 11 is Dawn of the Underlord and at the end of book 10 Mr Snake was left with all of the super powers that the other characters have been given in a couple of the other books and may have just found out that that's not such a great thing for him and so this one has a very Jedi Sith feel to it because he hears a voice calling him to become a very very very bad guy and it even mentions the multiverse so we're getting a lot of sort of contemporary references in a kid's book and it is just very very fun. Book at 12 or episode 12 we find out that Agent Fox is the one. What does that mean? She has the power to stop the new Dark Overlord who anytime his name is said heavy metal music plays which is so funny. I love contemporary references to other things that are going on so this one was right up my alley. So not only do we meet Dreadlord Splaghorn who is now controlling Snake, we had Mr Fox breaking the fourth wall and reminding everyone every anytime sort of a character or something that happened in a previous book came up which episode it was and what page it was on and we also have the introduction of the B team because the newly dubbed Shadow Squad G split into two groups by circumstances and some people are not happy about it and this was my favourite page when the B team is just basically saying wait my heart bills my asthma puffer my hand cream and I just about died laughing. At the end of this book they've gone their separate ways one team is going into space one has gone through a doorway to potentially a different dimension and I don't know what's going to happen next so we need to keep reading. Okay so I also finished book 13 cut to the chase and in this one the two teams have their separate missions and Agent Fox's team gets caught in a new realm trying to get to the next one and we learn that there are limits to her chosen one abilities and the B team end up travelling through space and having to switch spaceships to something that will make kids laugh hilariously which is a spaceship shaped like a butt and then they also meet the new character that's been introduced into this book Buck Thunder's and it's just hilarious. I'll update you when I get to the next book. So episode 14 is there behind you because there are B villains in this one and so of course one of the villains or one of the underlords who's chasing around our heroes is Queen B on say. I may have laughed just a little too hard at that part. There's also Underlord Try Hard which was also hilarious. There was also a scene in here about stereotypes and one of the non-heroes who's accidentally been tagging along on this adventure defending the fact that she has decided someone is the leader because of stereotypes and stereotypes make her feel comfortable. I mean if that is not reflective of society I don't know what is. I don't necessarily agree with it but I can understand where it comes from. Episode 15 is open wide and say are in which there is a truly horrifying dentist in here who would scare the pants off most people who have a fear of dentists. I'm just saying like why, why are we here? But the heroes have all been trying to find the others who will help the one, Agent Fox, in defeating the villain of this part of the series and we now have collected all of the others but they're all in different places and they now need to reunite. So hopefully that happens in episode 16. So I just read episode 16 which is the last book currently out. The next book, book 17, comes out in July this year and I just noticed how beat up this copy of the book is because this was the most anticipated book in my class all of last year and it got some love so it is the most destroyed book in the entire collection. So in the previous book we had found out who all of the other characters were and we find out that one person was not one of the others, was actually trying to portray our heroes and gets beat up by Tiffany the TV anchor for his efforts. It's hilarious. So I don't know what I'm going to do until you know the next book comes out because this leaves off on a hell of a cliffhanger. So yes I'm going to be eagerly awaiting this like everyone else who loves the bad guys. Those are my spoilery thoughts on the books as I read them, my little reactions. So now we will come back to me wrapping up this video. Okay so those are my spoilery thoughts. I just had an absolute ball waiting this series. I'm so glad that I took the time out in these holidays to read them, to feel my reactions to them, and to be able to share them with you guys. In the description down below I'll leave all of the books listed as well as a link to Aaron Blavy's website where you can find out more about the author. As I said I've been reading his books for years, he also writes children's picture books. Basically I've had his picture book collection since before I started teaching and I just adore everything that he does. So it's made me very happy to be able to read something other than his picture book works. In the comments I would love for you to let me know if you have read the bad guy series or if you're planning on picking it up. Or if you want to let me know that you're here but you don't want to leave a comment feel free to leave an emoji that represents your favorite bad guy character. Otherwise I hope that wherever you are you are staying safe and healthy and I will see you in my next video. Thanks so much for watching. Bye everyone.