22 August 2010

A Strange Little Monster

by Sue Whiting, illustrated by Stephen Michael King

Puffin Books (a Subsidiary of Penguin) (Aussie Nibbles). Junior, Australian, Young Reader. Paperback rrp $12.95

Guest Reviewer Jo Burnell

This heart warming early chapter book is irresistible. Sasha lives in Grotty Hollow with all the other Grotty Hollow Monsters, but she is different. While they love to rumble, roar and go around scaring, Sasha prefers to play music and sit among the daisies. Even though she has googly eyes and spikes, just like all the others, making scary faces just doesn’t feel right. She tries to do what all the other monsters love, but it just makes her tummy feel funny.

Can Sasha ever be happy in Grotty Hollow? The pressure to please her parents doesn’t help. When Sue Whiting steers the tale, happy endings do happen even when you are different. The secret is staying true to yourself.

Hiding beneath deceptively simple sentence structure lies a story of hope that echoes for all ages. A Strange Little Monster will be a timeless tale of hope for years to come.


The Reading Stack reviewed Sue Whiting's Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and Freaky in 2009.

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