Spud and Snowball and the Fancy Fish by Judith Rossell

Title: Spud and Snowball and the Fancy Fish

Author: Judith Rossell

Genre: Humour

Publisher: HarperCollins Australia

Published: 30^th September 2025

Format: Paperback

Pages: 128

Price: $15.99

Synopsis: Meet two cheeky cats in this brand-new illustrated fiction for emerging readers from the bestselling, award-winning creator Judith Rossell.

Every day, Spud and Snowball lie on the couch and watch TV. When they see an ad for Fancy Fish, the two cats work out a way to have this new food delivered to their doorstep. But what arrives is totally unexpected …

Can Spud and Snowball outwit this loud, bossy and very fancy intruder?

A cheeky tale that will have young readers giggling from the bestselling, award-winning creator Judith Rossell.

~*~

Spud and Snowball are two very cheeky cats. They love nothing more than eating their Kitty-Bix, watching TV and lazing around. While watching their cooking shows one day, they see an advert for a new food called Fancy Fish. But ordering the food has entirely different results! Instead of having the food delivered right to their doorstep, they get…an intruder!

As the title suggests, this intruder is a very, very fancy fish called Sir Mimsy Woffle-Poffle-Foffington, and he just happens to be a famous opera singer! As soon as the fish sees the cheeky cats, he starts making demands. He thinks they are his butlers, and there to do whatever he needs them to do.

But Spud and Snowball are sneaky and clever. They realise they need to beat the fish at his own game, and set about working out what to do. They’re going to need all their smarts to outwit this very demanding fish.

Judith Rossell’s latest junior fiction novel about two clever and cheeky cats and one very fancy, very demanding fish is full of laughs and hijinks for readers of all ages. The illustrations by Judith complement the words, where both are working together to tell the story and make it exciting and fun. Spud and Snowball truly come to life in this story, and spark imaginations about what our pets might get up to when we’re not around. Animal stories have always been fun for younger readers, and they will always have a place because there are so many things that can be done with animal characters. They can be chatty, whimsical, go on adventures, and so many things that span many ages and readerships.

This is the start of a new series, and it is such a fun read, perfect for emerging readers, newly confident readers, or anyone who wants a little bit of kitty cat fun. Spud and Snowball is a book that captures the joy of fun and creativity through cool cat characters. It’s going to be fun and cool to see where this series goes. There’s something special and joyful about reading a new series when it first comes out and being part of its journey. I especially love this with Australian authors and the authors that are less likely to get attention than the big authors or celebrity authors, because to me, these are where the true gems like Spud and Snowball can be found.

I loved reading the first book and look forward to the rest of the series.