posted on 24 Jul 2025

Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody: The HAT of great importance by Patrick Ness

This is the second instalment of the Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody written by the twice Carnegie Medal winner, Patrick Ness and illustrated by Tim Miller.

When I finished reading the book, I sat down and began to plan out the review I would write. I thought about telling you how this was essentially a madcap school story in which all the characters were animals of some kind rather than people; how the book was loaded with terrible puns; how the central character Zac, a monitor lizard (of course he’s the hall-monitor!), has his house attacked by the Death Ray of Death; how the school has mysterious new-comers in the shape of a fish and a new Pelican Guidance Counsellor; and, how Zeke’s best friend Daniel (another monitor lizard) has started sporting a new pink hat!

But, each time I started, I ended up scrapping what I’d written. Somehow, I just wasn’t catching the true spirit of the book and so I decided that trying to spell out the ‘plot’ or describe the action was actually not doing the book any favours. 

What you need to know is that this book just has to be experienced to understand it’s crazy surreal anarchy. Yes, there’s stuff in here about friendship, about equality and about what it means to be a decent living creature – but all of that comes mixed in with a story that makes you feel that you’ve walked into an animation.

Ness is a top class author and he knows exactly what he’s doing – he’s creating a bubble of technicolour chaos that’s carefully structured into what looks like a story but which seems to lose all contact with reality the minute you allow yourself to enter it.

Tim Miller’s droll illustrations add to the sense of unreal animation and are liberally scattered throughout the book – some full or even double page drawings rotate with small part-page illustrations and the book jacket will give you an idea of what you’re going to encounter.

Available now from Walker Books (who also published the first of these Chronicles) and you will be able to get a copy from your local independent bookshop – who will be happy to order it for you if they don’t have it on their shelves.

 

Terry Potter

July 2025