While many of us are looking forward to the summer holidays there are also parents who are thinking ahead to their child’s first day at school. Monsters At School, a vibrant picture book which introduces a huge cast of monster characters involved in various classroom activities, can help parents explain the transition in a fun way.
We go through the school day and its various activities – monster style! From arriving in the morning to waving goodbye at the end of the day monsters are engaged in a variety of activities including playtime, lunch, making music and arts and crafts.
There are so many wonderful monsters that it’s hard to choose favourites. We love the Rucksack Monster with his oversized wheely rucksack, sock eating Gobble Monster, Bandy Monster who can play four different instruments and Nibble Monster who seems to find pencils tasty! We wondered if Dash Monster needed the toilet and love the way that Shy Monster’s shyness is acknowledged. Stern Monster has a lot of pupils to keep under control but he’s not so stern by the end of the book and we love Learn Monster sitting with her books as she waits for class to start.
The illustrations are bold, brightly coloured and complement the romping rhyming text perfectly. Monsters playing tag, chasing and climbing up the walls give the child plenty to talk about and there are lots of humorous details from the expressions on the monsters’ faces to the activities that they’re doing – the clearing monster is obviously not happy with the way that the school is looking by the end of the day!
At the end of the book parents pick up Weary Monsters and Day-Done Monsters but they all agree on one thing ‘Let’s Come Back Again’!
Monsters at School is a great book for stimulating conversation and helping children address their worries and concerns before starting school. It’s a fun book to read to a group of children in a preschool or early years classroom, they could then be encouraged to create their own monsters for a class book or a wall display. There’s also a cute dog monster for children to spot in every scene 🙂
Age Range: 1 +
Author. Laura Baker / Illustrator: Nina Dzyvulska
Thank you to Quarto for sending a review copy of this wonderfully busy book. Check out our other monster reviews – Monsters in Trucks and Monsters at Christmas.
You can find more starting school book suggestions on Story Snug’s Pinterest board;
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