The Monstrous Book of Monsters by Dr Thomas Jelly

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The Monster Book of Monsters is AWESOME! My seven year old son is with me on this one. Like Candlewick Press's excellent Ology books, The Monster Book of Monsters is filed with flaps, pop-ups, fold-outs and fascinating facts. But at fifteen (jam packed) pages, it is geared toward a younger crowd than your typical Ology reader. This is evident when, a couple of pages into the book there is a chart that shows you the "most attractive dropping" contest that was won by Bottom Chilly and his creation titled, "David."


Other categories include "How to Spot Monsters," (tip: follow the poop) and "Infestations at Home," which has a brilliant cross section of a house with flaps to lift and find the monsters lurking behind cupboards, in the loo and under couch cushions. There is also a lovely little booklet that shows the ways in which micro-monsters can infect the human body.


Much attention is paid to avoiding and evading monsters and a two page spread is dedicated to "Defensive Tactics" with a Home Defense kit that looks like a leather case and opens to reveal illustrations of trip wire, a flashlight, soap, garlic, a hairbrush and an actual removable (paper) mirror. And, as fitting with the icky nature of the book, there is even a spread titled, "The Secret Art of Monster Disposal."

Libby Hamilton has written the delightful text for the book which is illustrated by Jonny Duddle and Aleksei Bitskoff. Duddle is the author and illustrator of a book I have read more than once at story time, The Pirate Cruncher, a rhyming tale with a surprise ending.




THE MONSTROUS BOOK OF MONSTERS. Text and design copyright © 2011 by The Templar Company Ltd. Illustrations copyright © 2011 by Aleksei Bitskoff and Jonny Duddle.  Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA.

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