The Adventures of Rap Kid
The Adventures of Rap Kid, written by MC Grammar aka Jacob Mitchell and illustrated by Alan Brown, is the fifth title in the 2026 Blue Peter Book Club.
Watch the animation below to discover more about the book.
The book by MC Grammar is all about Z, a rapper and writer.
Speaking out at school makes Z nervous every single time as he speaks in rhyme.
With his trusty notebook, he dreams of a world where his rhymes can shine.
Signing up to the Royal Rap Rumble, he hopes to become the next rhyming rap legend.
With the help of his super cool English teacher, Mr. G and his best friend SFX, Rap Kid is born.
His stage is set. Let battle commence.
Can Z take over the Golden Mic and become the greatest of all time?
Z stands for ZERO - the number of words that Z speaks at school. Why? Because every time he talks, it rhymes. Every. Single. Time.
But, things are about to change. The Royal Rap Rumble is coming to town, searching for the next rhyming rap legend. With the help of his super-cool English teacher, Mr G, his best friend SFX, and the ultimate hip-hop makeover, RAP KID is born.
But can he become the G.O.A.T and take home the golden mic? Bring on the vibes!
You can get a sneak peek of the book over on Blue Peter.
What is slang?
One powerful feature of this story is the way it celebrates the creative world of words!
The story uses lots of slang words. Slang words are modern, relaxed and playful ways to say something.
Slang can be new words, or words with new meanings. They are made when people are creative with old words.
Slang words and phrases such as 'My G!’, ‘sick’, 'drip’ or ‘gassed’ appear throughout the story. But do they really mean that the characters feel gassy, dripping wet or sick?
Of course not! In this story, 'sick' means something is awesome, 'My G' means my friend, 'drip' describes a person’s cool style, and 'gassed' means you’re really excited.
Formal and informal tone
The Adventures of Rap Kid is written in a relaxed and chatty style called an informal tone.
There are important differences between a formal and informal tone.
A formal tone is serious. It does not use slang words. It’s the writing style you would use if you wrote a letter to your Headteacher to ask for extra playtimes!
An informal tone, on the other hand, is friendly and easy‑going. It makes you feel like the writer knows you, or is chatting directly to you.
Engaging the reader
The Adventures of Rap Kid uses a range of techniques to involve the reader in the adventure.
The story does this by asking lots of questions and letting you make decisions about what Rap Kid should do next, helping you feel part of what is happening.
Completing a cheat code, rap‑writing and vocal activities are ways the author involves the reader.
These interactive moments encourage you to take part in the story, rather than just follow it.
Example 1
Look at this extract from the book.
Which words are slang? Do you know what the sentence means?
✓ In this sentence, Rap Kid is saying that looking at the ground isn’t always a bad thing — especially if it means you get to see a really cool pair of shoes.
The slang words are:
'sick', which means cool or amazing
'kicks', which means shoes or trainers
Example 2
Let's look at another example.
Rap Kid uses an informal tone from the start of the story.
What clues in the story opening tell you that it is told in an informal tone?
✓ Starting off with a microphone check and virtual fist bump is a relaxed and friendly way to begin. This casual, chatty style of writing is a key feature of an informal tone.
Example 3
Here, Rap Kid asks you to show how you are feeling about the audition by placing the ‘Oh My Days’ emoji on a scale from 1–10.
Why has the author used features like this throughout the story?
✓ By asking questions and giving tasks, the author encourages the reader to take part. These features help you feel involved in what is happening, rather than just reading about it.
Blue Peter Book Club
Watch as Abby, MC Grammar and the Book Clubbers talk about their favourite parts of The Adventures of Rap Kid and create their own rap.
If you like rap, you should read this book!
This book is filled with attitude!
The characters in this book are fantastic!
You'll be rapping all day once you finish this book!
Mic drop!
Ever dreamt of making your own music, performing on stage, or becoming a rap legend? If so, check out The Adventures of Rap Kid, our latest BP Book Club read.
Giving us their mic-dropping reviews are future rappers, Apollo, Aisha, Teddy, and Nylah.
To review a book packed with rhyme and rhythm, we've come to a music studio, where later the group will be recording their very own rap!
(raps) Rap rumble, you can never catch me fumble.
But before that, I want to know what the book clubbers thought of The Adventures of Rap Kid.
What did you like about the book?
I really liked the concept for building up confidence.
I like that you could write in the book because it makes you feel like you're part of the story. It feels, like, collaborative.
Are there any characters in the book that you really liked?
My favourite character was Z. He treated you as if he was your friend as well, like, he would make sure you're still reading the book.
My favourite character was SFX because both Z and SFX find their confidence and, which is really cool, she's really good at beatboxing, like beatboxes.
Oh, hello!
Speaking of beats, it's time for the group to turn words into bars, creating a rap inspired by the themes of the book. Cue the author himself, MC Grammar, for an epic writing master class.
Welcome to the rap club. Now, before we get started, can you tell me what you discovered when it comes to the themes in the book?
Confidence.
I love that!
Understanding. Friendship. Believing in yourself.
But how do we translate that into a rap?
Good question. We need my go to tool, which is the rap alphabet.
MC Grammar writes down letters of the alphabet alongside our themes.
Now it's just a case of adding rhyming words to help form our rap. Friend. Now, what rhymes with friend?
Bend!
Bend does, anything else?
Mend?
So, confidence we had compliment, but anything else go with confidence?
Dominant?
Dominant, that's good! As a rapper 'cause you go, (raps):
So on this microphone I'm always dominant,
Whenever I'm flowing, I've got the confidence.
I think it's time to write our own raps now. Are we good to go?
Yes!
How important is reading to making a rap?
Reading is the most important thing. By reading books, you're gonna see words, you're gonna understand what they mean. And then when you wanna write down how you feel, you're gonna have these words that you can pluck from your brain and then if they rhyme, even better!
It's almost time to record the track, but first the group need to discover their rap names.
So, at the back of the book, there is a rap name generator where you take the first letter of your first name, first letter of your surname to create your own rapper name. Did you guys create a rapper name?
Yeah!
Let's go. (rap begins)
Yo, this is MC Grammar, alongside ASAP Legend, ASAP Monster, Tricky Rebel, and Nitro Diamond! Let's go!
If you wanna be my friend, to the end. No pretend! You gotta be kind, you gotta be cool, you gotta be loyal.
And then, gotta understand that confidence, will bring you dominance and compliments, like put that sauce like condiments (condiments).
Are you to rap rumble? You can never catch me fumble. I eat rappers for dinner and dessert, like apple crumble.
You know! Always giving compliments, the only way to do that is by having confidence. You know, you've got to believe in yourself. When you're struggling, you always have to ask for help.
That was incredible!
I loved hearing you all.
Fist bumps in. Shaka!
Yeah!
To wrap this up… do you get it? (W)rap it up? Why do you think that everyone should read The Adventures of Rap Kid?
It could actually be kind of inspirational.
Do you think this book would inspire other people to write their own raps?
It definitely inspired me to write more.
Why not give it a go yourself? Write a rap review of the book and you could earn yourself a BP Book Badge.
Right, time for another rap?
Yeah!
Can you work out your rap name from watching the video above?
Have a go at writing your own short rap. Use some of the tips MC Grammar gives in the video to help.
Both of these will help you earn your Blue Peter Book Club badge, which you can read about here.
Quiz
Now put what you've learnt to the test with this quiz
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