- Comedy
- Murray and Bun collection
- Ages 6–8
Murray and Bun
Part of the collectionMurray and Bun→Best for newly independent readers who want short, funny adventures with lots of pictures and a reassuring recurring setup.
- Books4 / 4
- Arcs1
- Span2021–2024
- StatusOngoing
The series
At a glance.
Murray and Bun is an illustrated early chapter-book series written and illustrated by Adam Stower. Murray the cat and Bun travel through a magical cat flap into different adventure settings: Viking, knight, pirate and ghosthunter stories in the current seeded run. The series is built around a very useful early-reader engine: a familiar comic duo, a repeatable portal device, a fresh adventure role each time and enough illustration to keep pages moving. Murray's reluctance makes him especially appealing to children who feel nervous about adventure but enjoy watching someone else get dragged into it.
Best for newly independent readers who want short, funny adventures with lots of pictures and a reassuring recurring setup.
Primary themes
Overall tone
- Funny
- Silly
- Adventurous
- Warm
Publication order is the best default, beginning with Murray the Viking, but the adventures are largely self-contained once the magical cat flap premise is understood.
One arc
The shape of the series.
- IStandalone collection arcBooks 1–4 · 2021–2024Low sensitivity
Through the magical cat flap
Four funny illustrated adventures sending Murray and Bun into Viking, knight, pirate and ghosthunter trouble.
Murray and Bun works as one standalone portal-adventure collection. Each book uses the same simple mechanism — the magical cat flap — to send the duo into a new adventure costume and setting. Murray the Viking, Murray the Knight, Murray the Pirate and Murray the Ghosthunter give readers clear genre hooks without needing much background knowledge. The series is low sensitivity: even the ghosthunter title is handled as comic adventure rather than genuine horror. Its strongest use case is helping children move from picture books into chapter books without losing visual humour or predictability.
Fit check
Right for your reader?
Where the series lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- 15
- 17
- 19
- Best fit · 6–8
- Read aloud · 5–8
- Independent · 6–8
Reluctant-reader friendliness
Very high
Read-aloud quality
Strong
Adult crossover
High
Grows with the reader
Not especially
Sensitivity envelope
Low overall, and consistent.
Where it sits
In conversation with other series.
Read this after…
Series that pick up where Murray and Bun leaves off.
About the author