"The Baby talks utter rubbish but everyone has to listen to him.
Baby: Coo ... dribble ... blah!
Mother: Did you hear that? He's trying to talk!
The hoover has a better line in conversation."

From the award-winning author of The Wordsmith
With superb, funny and playful illustrations by Elīna Brasliņa.

Children's Book Council: Spring 2024 Showcase: Reading List: Transformation

Bumpfizzle is on a mysterious mission to Earth from Planet Plonk. His Earth family is OK. Except for the four-legged brother (Mr Sooty) and The Baby – which talks utter rubbish and leaks from both ends: And when he bites his teacher (to check if humans are edible), not to mention trying to sacrifice a goat, things start to go wrong for Daniel – er – Bumpfizzle.

PRAISE FOR BUMPFIZZLE

'So hilarious! Patricia Forde is definitely the high queen of Irish comedy.' – Eoin Colfer

'The book is rich with contemporary reference and comedy, as Forde uses the alien perspective to offer the reader an alternative view of familiar family conflicts and academic challenges. Elina Braslina’s illustrations, meanwhile, bring life to Forde’s characters with an expressive clarity that effectively undermines the details of Bumpfizzle’s letters and points readers towards his dissembling.' – The Irish Times

'Forde’s inventive wordsmithing and her instinct for the ridiculous will have kids in stitches ... Forde knows exactly what young earthlings love.' – The New York Times

'Big changes and the torment that comes with them are given new life on these pages. The accompanying black-and-white illustrations by Braslina are engaging and serve to convey Daniel’s frustrations ... Readers, especially middle children, may relate to how alien it can feel when making room for a new addition to the family.'  – School Library Journal

'The narration moves at lightning speed, greatly helped by Elina Braslina’s delightful and impish illustrations, as Bumpfizzle grumbles from disaster to disaster and comes under increasing pressure from the Great Master… The real triumph, and there are many, is that the narration does not let up at all. Forde is enjoying herself immensely and her enjoyment and energy is infectious ... Bumpfizzle The Best On Planet Earth is a great joy to read, a wonderful achievement and a much needed refreshing read in a world full of trumpery.' – Des Kenny, The Galway Advertiser

'The book was funny. It was very funny. There weren’t jokes, but it just made me laugh… People who like books with cartoons, and who read Roald Dahl would probably like this book. If I had to describe it in three words, I would say: “aliens”, “funny”, “funky” … and “surprising”. I’d recommend it to my friend Brooke. You don’t know her.' – 11-year-old Sienna for the Dublin Inquirer

'This hilarious tale… readers will adore.' –  InTouch, the magazine of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation. Chosen as their November 2018 Children’s Book of the Month.

'With hilariously disgusting illustrations form Elina Braslina, Bumpfizzle is the story of a disgruntled alien that readers will adore.' – Inis Reading Guide, Children’s Books Ireland

'His purportedly extraterrestrial perspective and bombastic voice propel this tongue-in-cheek misadventure.’ – Publishers Weekly

'An engaging and fun read.' –  Netgalley Reviewer

Patricia Forde is from Galway in the west of Ireland. She has published many books for children and has written plays and television drama. She has a husband and two children. None of them are aliens to the best of her knowledge.

About the Illustrator
Elīna Brasliņa is an illustrator from Latvia. She has illustrated several titles, most of them children's books and young adult novels.Elīna's work has been nominated for local awards and the Kate Greenaway Medal, and she has twice received the Zelta Abele Award for book design, as well as the Janis Baltvilks Baltic Sea Region Award in 2017.