Smart Move: DFB picks up the Bunny vs Monkey creator's new series

David Fickling Books has swooped for three titles in the latest series from Jamie Smart, whose Bunny vs Monkey books have become a slow-burn graphic novel hit.  

DFB commissioning editor Rosie Fickling acquired world all-language rights to the Max and Chaffy series from Jodie Hodges at United Agents. The titles are centred around Max, who moves to an island full of animals, where he meets a special creature named Chaffy, who is lost. On the way to try to find Chaffy’s home, the two have adventures all over the island. 

Fickling said Max and Chaffy was “quite simply one of the most gorgeous and fun new series of books that I have ever seen. The super-cute artwork is complemented by Jamie Smart’s wonderful sense of humour and elevated further by a beautifully sensitive core emotional story in each book.” 

Smart’s Bunny vs Monkey series has been growing in popularity since it was first published in the UK in 2014, and has now shifted nearly 240,000 copies for £1.8m through Nielsen BookScan. The latest title, Bunny vs Monkey and the Supersonic Aye-Aye, has been a fixture near the top of the UK children’s charts since it was published in January.  

In 2013, Smart and James Turner’s Fish-Head Steve! was the first graphic story to be shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize. Smart has also illustrated comics for the the Sunday Times, the Dandy and the Beano. 

“It’s an absolute joy to tell these stories,” Smart said. “[And] to build all the fun and colourful locations for our characters to explore, and then hide plenty of things in them for them and the reader to find.”