Some strange things arrive suddenly, like frogs that rain down instead of cats and dogs. Other strange things creep up slowly until one day no one can ignore them any longer. This is the story of the McClaffertys, and the mysterious disappearance of laughter.
Lucy McClafferty and her younger brother Ben are fed up. The weather has been dreich for months, and no one is laughing anymore. It's up to Lucy and Ben to uncover the mystery of why the world has stopped laughing so laughter can return to the world again.
Join them on their weird and wonderful adventure as they travel up to the top of Scotland, meet fantastical characters, face unexpected challenges, and discover that there is much more to some people and places than meets the eye!
Some strange things arrive suddenly, like frogs that rain down instead of cats and dogs. Other strange things creep up slowly until one day no one can ignore them any longer. This is the story of the McClaffertys, and the mysterious disappearance of laughter.
Lucy McClafferty and her younger brother Ben are fed up. The weather has been dreich for months, and no one is laughing anymore. It's up to Lucy and Ben to uncover the mystery of why the world has stopped laughing so laughter can return to the world again.
Join them on their weird and wonderful adventure as they travel up to the top of Scotland, meet fantastical characters, face unexpected challenges, and discover that there is much more to some people and places than meets the eye!
It was a crunchy cold afternoon somewhere up a sheep-
lined, tractor-chugging, coal-tit-twittering track in Fiddle
Wood, in the Scottish Borders. The McClaffertys were hud-
dled around a crackling fire in Middletoun Farmhouse’s
kitchen when something hairy howled outside...
‘Aaawooooooo!’
…something as hairy and clammy as a half-eaten, hair-
covered pork pie.
Uncle Patrick jumped, Lucy shuddered and baby Ro-
wan wailed, matching the howls.
‘Aaawooooooo!’
Usually, Lucy and Ben spent many hours a day sitting
high up in two of the old chestnut trees, Groan and Creek,
looking out for grey squirrels, spies and other dangerous
people. But not this holiday—the last three weeks an unre-
lenting sleet had grown fangs, biting into their soft, freckled
skin.
‘Bored! Bored! Bored!’ sulked Ben, scuffing his shoes
along the wall.
‘Aaarrgh!’ groaned Mum, throwing a pan of burnt sau-
sages onto the fire.
‘I’ve had it!’ Lucy growled, doodling unhappy badgers
all over her fuschia TOP SECRET UNDERCOVER diary,
which Ben liked to tell her didn’t have a very undercover
colour at all.
Lucy always doodled badgers when she was in a bad
mood but this was the first time in her twelve years on the
planet that her mood had lasted so long. Her diary was cov-
ered top to bottom in growling badgers.
Lucy was in a terrible mood for two reasons. One rea-
son was the vicious weather, which left her feeling as flat
and salty as Salar de Uyuni, a salt flat in Bolivia known to
be the flattest place on Earth. The other was that Lucy
hadn’t heard Grandma laughing for months. Grandma had
an incredible hooting laugh which made everyone else
laugh too. Lucy loved her, as she always said what she real-
ly thought, not just what other people wanted to hear, un-
like most adults. She spoke eight languages and told Lucy
and Ben stories from all around the world. Of course some
people who looked at Grandma saw a batty old woman and
talked to her like she was a baby. Grandma would go along
with it and gurgle back at them. Then, when they were
gone, she would slap her ample thighs and roar with laugh-
ter at their silliness. But that was then.
Nobody had laughed, or even giggled, for months. No-
body had chortled, sniggered, guffawed, hooted or even
smiled. Baby Rowan was crying more than usual and the
milk was turning sour. Even the house martins nesting un-
der the eaves of the roof were squabbling and the twittering
coal tits had stopped twittering.
Lucy felt a strange emptiness inside, like a cold wind
whistling through an abandoned school playground. It
wasn’t just Middletoun Farmhouse that had stopped laugh-
ing. All up and down Scotland, and in fact all up and down
and round the world, no one was laughing anymore, except
maybe among some uncontacted Peruvian tribes deep in
the Amazon jungle, but that we’ll never know.
An announcement bleated on the radio.
‘The happiest man in the world, Bhuti Phuntsok from
Tibet, hasn’t smiled for months. Grenville Swan is investi-
gating.’
The usually cheery radio host of Radio Borders, Kenny
McGroin, sounded unusually sad—his voice as lifeless as
lukewarm, lumpy custard. There was an uncomfortably
long pause as he fumbled for the next record. His changeo-
vers were usually exceptionally smooth. More than a few
eyebrows raised in the Borders and many more crinkled
when the saddest violin music in the world started playing.
Lucy’s eyes and nostrils welled up at the sound and Byron
began to yowl.
The front door banged. It was Mr McClafferty coming
in from work.
The Tickling Tale of Smoo by Louiza Kallona was a wonderfully weird story filled with excitement and humor. It all began when people seemed to lose their will to smile. Grandma said it must have to do with Smoo, a tickler of the world.
As Grandma, Lucy, Ben, and Patrick arrived at Gabel Lylhu's cottage in Durness, the weirdest factor increased tenfold. First, Grandma whistled, and fireflies answered her call. Then, there's the cottage itself. Its unique decor was definitely on the strange side: bronze fox nailed to the front door, crocodile-tooth light switches, blowfish skeletons, and a clock that bleats. The most unusual discovery was a gargantuan nose on the turquoise, conch-shaped couch. The nose sent snot soaring out of its nostrils. Gross!
After the visitors woke Gabel Lylhu (aka Belly Laugh), we learned about his connection to Grandma. The revelation surprised me as much as it surprised Lucy and Ben. With a quick rundown on the world's happenings, Gabel and the kids set to find the Smoo and tickle her. The adventure has readers meeting extraordinary people, witnessing unusual events, and hopping on a spectacularly odd bus (Grand Express) that children will be utterly fascinated by and probably say they'd like to ride.
The Tickling Tale of Smoo had humor, suspense, unforgettable characters, and a unique plot that required an out-of-the-box-thinking resolution. Oh, it also had puzzles that would delight and thrill those who like solving riddles and anagrams. I want to note that the anagrams are not very easy and might prove difficult for young readers. However, the answers are provided as the author tells the story, and thank goodness for that because they stumped even me.
Kids will love The Tickling Tale of Smoo. Adults will love it too. It's a story that the entire family can read and enjoy together!