Yuck! That’s not a Monster! includes a very non scary monster who has traits that scary monsters don’t have, traits that can be unexpectedly useful in a sticky situation!
The Story: Mr and Mrs Monster are waiting for their eggs to hatch. The first two monsters are ‘Frightful’ and ‘Horrid’ but the third monster is pink, fluffy and cute! Little Shock, as they call him, doesn’t have the horrendous monster traits of his brother and sister, he is scared of the dark and plays with little animals instead of chasing them. However, when the three little monsters meet a big, scary monster in the woods it is Little Shock’s ‘unmonsterlike’ action which scares the big monster away!
Yuck! That’s not a Monster! is very funny and even the scary monsters don’t look particularly scary (Little Shock is so cute that the big monster mistakes him for candy floss!). For a two year old this is purely an entertaining story but my four year old is now trying to understand the humour and has lots of questions about the monsters’ behaviour. Alison Edgson’s illustrations are beautiful and the monsters have some wonderful expressions (especially Dad’s face when he realises that Little Shock is scared of thunder!). I love the language used to describe the monster action (squash, spit, howl, hiss, gurgle, twinkle), there is lots of scope to use this book to introduce verbs in the classroom.
Yuck! That’s not a Monster! has a happy ending which demonstrates to children that it’s good to be different. Little Shock loves his brother and sister and when he scares the monster away they come to appreciate his unique qualities.
Age Range: 2 +
Author: Angela McAllister / Illlustrator: Alison Edgson
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