Category

Monsters

The Knight Who Wouldn’t Fight By Helen Docherty & Thomas Docherty

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The Knight Who Wouldn't FightA few weeks ago a lovely lady called Helen dropped me a message to recommend us a book which her son had picked out at the library – The Knight Who Wouldn’t Fight. It wasn’t one that i’d heard of so I want to give a big shout out to her to say thank you as we LOVE it! (It should be noted here that this is definitely a different Helen to the one who wrote the book!)

The story is about a little mouse called Leo who likes nothing more than to curl up with a good book. However Leo is a knight so, despite his protestations, his parents insist that he has to go out in to the world and fight dragons.

Leo packs a bag with some sandwiches (and lots of books of course!) and heads off on his horse to fight a dragon who has been terrorising a town a few hours ride away. En route he faces a fearsome griffin and an angry troll, but defeats them quickly and easily using not his sword but his collection of books. It turns out that nasty creatures can be quite vain and love to hear stories about themselves!

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My Teacher Is A Monster!
by Peter Brown

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My Teacher Is A MonsterTwo of my closest female friends are primary school teachers so when I spotted this I knew we had to buy it!

The story is about a little boy called Bobby who doesn’t like school because he is always getting told off by his teacher, Miss Kirby. He doesn’t like her and thinks she’s a monster!

Then one weekend he bumps in to her when he’s walking in his favourite park, and neither of them are quite sure what to do. They both feel a little awkward seeing each other outside of school. Just as it’s becoming super uncomfortable a gust of wind catches Miss Kirby’s favourite hat and blows it away.

Bobby manages to save the hat and in the process learns a little bit more about Miss Kirby and she learns a little bit more about him. Bobby comes to realise that she’s not a monster at all. She’s just a regular person – who is actually rather nice! – and just needs to be strict at school because it’s her job (and because he’s actually quite naughty).

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Ten Little Superheroes By Mike Brownlow & Simon Rickerty

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Ten Little SuperheroesWe are big fans of the ‘Ten Little …” series by Mike Brownlow and Simon Rickerty and this one is our second favourite (Nothing beats Ten Little Dinosaurs!).

The story sees our ten tiny heroes take on the League of Bad Guys who have an evil plan to take over the city. They do their best to battle the hilarious baddies (which include Hippo Man, Glue Girl, Crab Man and Hypno Girl) but on each page we see one superhero disappear. The book counts backwards from ten until eventually there’s only one hero left. The bad guys think they’ve won and start to celebrate but the Super Kids have one last trick up their sleeve. Can all ten of them reassemble and save the day?

Ivy gets really excited when we read this as the rhyme is really bouncy, the illustrations are a riot of colour and there are lots of big superhero words to shout as you read –  POW! ZAP! SPLAT!

Buy it now: https://amzn.to/2Jybh5x

Tiny Tantrum By Caroline Crowe & Ella Okstad

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Tiny TantrumWe were recently recommended this book by one of our followers and i’m really happy we bought it as it’s fantastic. Ivy has recently turned two and a half so tantrums are (unfortunately!) now a part of everyday life. This means I am always on the lookout for books which may alleviate the stress a little!

The story is about a little girl called Tiny who has lots of tantrums. Every time her mummy asks her to do something she yells and screams and stamps her feet, refusing to oblige. However one day she is joined by an array of fluffy monsters who help her understand that there are better ways of dealing with her anger. From wiggling your bottom to flushing your tantrums down the loo, these monsters have lots of creative ideas on how to get rid of the grumps.

This one gets a big thumbs up from us as it makes Ivy laugh out loud. Additionally, there are lots of opportunities to put on silly monster voices and there’s a funky song at the end. The illustrations are lovely and definitely capture the drama of being a toddler!

Buy it now: https://amzn.to/2MvWZoH

Billy And The Beast By Nadia Shireen

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Billy And The BeastThis one was only published a few weeks ago but I have read it so many times since it arrived that it feels like we’ve had it forever.

Billy and Fatcat are taking a walk through the woods when they stumble across a nasty beast who has hatched an evil plan. He has captured a fox, a hedgehog, 2 mice and 3 super cute bunnies and he plans to boil them up in to soup.

Quick-thinking Billy soon has the Beast in a tizz but, armed with only the items she has stashed in her amazing afro, can she save the animals from the soup before it is too late?

We love this book. It has all the right ingredients for a great children’s story – a feisty female protagonist, a feline sidekick, a scary monster and a whole host of adorable woodland animals!

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The Gruffalo By Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler

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The GruffaloToday’s book needs no introduction as it’s a modern classic. I’m sure most of you already have this in your child’s library but a collection of children’s book reviews doesn’t seem complete without it!

An enterprising young mouse is taking a little walk through the wood when he encounters a number of creatures who are keen to make him their dinner. Thinking on his feet he explains to each of them that he can’t stop because he is off to meet a Gruffalo. What’s a Gruffalo? the fox, the owl and the snake each ask in turn.

As he describes this imaginary, terrifying creature the details become more and absurd. He has terrible teeth, a poisonous wart on his nose, orange eyes and purple prickles all over his back! Scared of the mouses terrifying friend, the animals decide to let him go on his merry way.

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Morris The Mankiest Monster By Giles Andreae & Sarah McIntyre

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Morris The Mankiest MonsterIvy recently received this one as a birthday gift and she LOVES it. The grotty humour is perfect for a toddler – Ivy says ‘bleurghhh’ and laughs at every page.

Morris is a manky monster with some extremely bad habits. He picks his scabs, bathes in sewage, eats mould from his toes and washes his hair in the loo. You get the idea!

A very funny book with fantastic illustrations, but I wouldn’t advise reading it if you’re feeling a bit nauseous. It might just push you over the edge!

Buy it now: http://amzn.to/2kqg91M

The Something By Rebecca Cobb

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The SomethingAnyone who has been following us for a while will know that Ivy and I are big fans of Rebecca Cobb and this beautiful book is no exception.

A little boy finds a hole underneath the cherry tree in his garden and begins to wonder what could be down there. He shows the hole to his parents, his sister, his friends and his grandparents and ask them what they think.

Could there be a family of frogs down there? Or bunnies? Or even a troll or a dragon? Only time will tell!

This is a delightful little book about the power of a child’s imagination and the illustrations are gorgeous. We particularly like the little blue troll.

Buy it now: http://amzn.to/2i30Zmn

Funnybones By Janet & Allan Ahlberg

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FunnybonesHappy Halloween!

Ivy is still a little young to understand this one but she loves the illustrations and enthusiastically hums along with the song (The leg bone’s connected to the – hip bone!).

This spooky little book tells the tale of a family of skeletons who live in the dark dark cellar of a dark dark house on a dark dark street. One night the skeleton family take their skeleton dog for a walk to the park and plan to frighten someone along the way.

It doesn’t quite go to plan though – with hilarious results!

Buy it now: http://amzn.to/2A2Cl9r

Not Now, Bernard By David McKee

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Not Now, BernardWe love this rather dark tale about the perils of not giving your children your full attention. Ivy always laughs at the repetition of the titular phrase and the dark humour definitely appeals to me.

It tells the story of a little boy who finds a monster in his garden and tries to tell his parents but they’re too busy to pay any attention. He attempts to befriend the monster but instead gets gobbled up.

The monster then enters the house, eats the boy’s dinner, reads his comics, plays with his toys and even sleeps in his bed – and the parents don’t notice a thing!

Definitely a case for social services if this was real life!

Buy it now: http://amzn.to/2xoIBGW