I Want a Monster!

by Elise Gravel, Elise Gravel (Illustrator)

Overview

Winnie wants a monster! Some monsters smell like pirate feet and some might read your diary, but they are so darn cute! All Winnie’s friends have one. But how much do Oogly-Wumps eat? Don’t they ever sleep? Can monsters get lonely?

I Want a Monster! is a humorous, energetic celebration of the responsibility and joy of owning your dream pet, perfect for fans of Peter Brown’s Children Make Terrible Pets or anyone who’s ever longed for or loved a pet of any kind.

Includes a “Would You Like to Adopt a Monster?” activity at the back of the book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062415332
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/15/2016
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	8.70(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Elise Gravel loves all animals, especially her two cats, who are not as clever as Arlo but pretty funny all the same. She is the creator of the Olga series inspired by her science-loving daughter, as well as many other books for children, including I Want a Monster!, The Cranky Ballerina, The Mushroom Fan Club, If Found . . . Please Return to Elise Gravel. and Puppy In My Head: A Book about Mindfulness. Elise lives in Montreal with her husband, two daughters, and those splendid cats. Find her at elisegravel.com. 

  

Elise Gravel loves all animals, especially her two cats, who are not as clever as Arlo but pretty funny all the same. She is the creator of the Olga series inspired by her science-loving daughter, as well as many other books for children, including I Want a Monster!, The Cranky Ballerina, The Mushroom Fan Club, If Found . . . Please Return to Elise Gravel. and Puppy In My Head: A Book about Mindfulness. Elise lives in Montreal with her husband, two daughters, and those splendid cats. Find her at elisegravel.com. 

  

Editorial Reviews

Elise Gravel’s kooky cartoons are full of her trademark irony and wit. [She] includes just the right dose of gross, with requisite scenes of nose picking and toilet humor. I Want a Monster! is more fun than a barrel of baby Oogly-Wumps.” — Quill & Quire

From the Publisher

Elise Gravel’s kooky cartoons are full of her trademark irony and wit. [She] includes just the right dose of gross, with requisite scenes of nose picking and toilet humor. I Want a Monster! is more fun than a barrel of baby Oogly-Wumps.

Quill & Quire

03/01/2016
PreS-Gr 2—Winnie wants a pet monster. Why not? All of her friends have pet monsters, ranging from Oggs to Blacktopus and Moogs to giant Foffles. Winnie pleads with her papa with "Bambi eyes" to please get one for her. She researches all the things she needs to do to take care of her monster, including walking, feeding, and even picking up "monster poo!" Soon, her skills of persuasion lead her to a visit at the Monsterium, where everything needed for monster care is available, including baby monsters to adopt. Readers learn about the hundreds of monsters available along with their attributes. Papa finds one he likes (sounds like a cute puppy dog, "arf"), and they adopt him. Winnie soon learns that adorable monsters take a lot of work to train, and in a fantastic spread of Winnie never getting any sleep due to her monster never sleeping, the work's cuteness quotient begins to wear thin. Gravel's digital artwork and use of Photoshop and Cintiq graphic tablet create entertaining and engaging characters. The half-title page invites readers to discover how Winnie will get her monster. VERDICT A fun, spirited read-aloud for storytime or classroom use.—Melissa Smith, Royal Oak Public Library, MI

School Library Journal

2015-12-22
Snaggle-toothed, asymmetrical, bug-eyed monsters abound in this not-so-subtle "A pet is a big responsibility" primer. From the moment the protagonist starts obsessing over owning a monster, her father is doomed. To ensure a visit to the Monsterium, she wields some well-honed weapons. First there's the tweaking of parental guilt: "All my friends have pet monsters." Then she fires off enthusiastic promises to parental questions: "And who will pick up the monster poo?" / "I will!" The various candidates up for adoption have appropriately cutesy names such as Froops, Foffles, and Pooples. The winner is a barking Oogly-Wump that smells like pirates' feet. After Papa names him Gus, the baby monster proceeds to swim in the toilet and eat Papa's cellphone. When the maturing monster becomes despondent, the overenthusiastic protagonist's solution is hair-raising. The easy-to-follow dialogue is corralled within speech bubbles, and most of the cartoony digital illustrations are placed against graph-paper backdrops, bringing to mind a child's journal entries. The abundance of rainbow-hued monsters suggests that Gravel probably had a grand time flinging darts at a color wheel. Both the girl and her father are melanin-enriched, and the other children featured are also diverse. Included at the end of the story are five brief interactive exercises that range from monster naming to monster training. Though not quite as much fun as Gravel's Disgusting Critters series, this offering will still elicit chuckles from the younger set. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews