'Zac and Essie have been helping their Granny Mo in her search for the perfect pet. She's tried everything - cats, bunnies, even axolotls! - and she just can't find the right one.
'But when the trio go mudlarking in the riverbank, they find a creature unlike anything else. Granny Mo might have set out to look for a pet, but now she's got a monster on her hands and it's about to get up to some mischief!'
Granny's Little Monsters is one of the latest releases from children'd publisher Barrington Stoke Books, and it's a little book packed full of fun.
The story follow Zac and Essie, two cousins who spend their Saturdays with their Granny Mo. They look forward to their weekend adventures with their granny. And one day when visiting her they're surprised to find a cat in her house. But, it's not her cat. You see, Granny Mo has decided that she wants a pet, but isn't sure what kind of animal is going to be the best fit for her. So she's borrowed a cat from her friend.
After the cat trashes her house she thinks something else might be the better choice. Over the next several weeks Mo and the kids try out different animals, bunnies, snakes, and even a chicken. But nothing seems to be the best fit.
One weekend, having seemingly given up looking for an animal friend, Granny Mo takes Essie and Zac down to the riverbank to do some mudlarking. But there's something unusual in the mid, some kind of creature that none of them have ever seen before. Taking it home with them, they're shocked to discover that its a strange little monster.
Karen McCombie makes this book a lot of fun, even from the first pages where we haven't even gotten into the main story yet there's a lot of fun to be had with the story. Zac and Essie are instantly likeable protagonists, and despite competing with each other all the time you can tell that they care about each other, and that they both deeply love their Granny.
Granny Mo is the kind of older woman I think most of us want to end up being like. She's fun, independent, and knows what she wants; for the most part anyway. Yes, she might not know what kind of animal is going to be the best fit for her, but other than that she seems to be a take charge kind of woman, someone who would very quickly stand up for themselves, or would decide she's going to do something just because she wants to, and to hell with anyone making her feel bad or silly about her choices.
The early parts of the book are quite enjoyable, and seeing her go through her selection of different animals, trying to figure out which one would be best for her is amusing. And as someone who has three house bunnies I can confirm what Granny Mo goes through here is quite true; as cute as they are they love to chew the house up. I don't think we've got any undamaged skirting boards left in the entire house anymore.
The real fun part of the book is when the three characters go mudlarking, though, and the strange little creature that they find hiding in the muck at the waters edge. Having seen the cover illustration part of me was expecting it to be a literal mud monster, but after taking it home and giving it a wash readers get to see what's underneath all that mud, and it's really kind of cute. McCombie manages to craft a really interesting little monster in this book, one that I wanted to see more of, and was a little sad to see go by the end.
The book is also filled with some great illustrations that really help the story to come to life. Lee Cosgrove provides both the cover art for the book, as well as the illustrations dotted throughout. These illustrations make some of the key scenes really come to life, and help to create the creature by giving it a very clear, and cute, look. I really liked his art on this story, and found myself hoping each new page would bring another great picture with it.
Granny's Little Monsters is a quick read, and the story is so fun and well paced that I imagine you're little ones would want to finish it in one go. Luckily, there's enough there for adults to enjoy too that I think you'll also have a lot of fun with this title. A genuine pleasure to read.
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