Monster Doughnuts by Gianna Pollero and Sarah Horne
| Monster Doughnuts by Gianna Pollero and Sarah Horne | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: Ruth Ng
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| Summary: Monster mayhem galore, with fun illustrations and a very funny story about a disguise-wearing, board game-playing monster who really, really loves doughnuts! | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 256 | Date: April 2021 |
| Publisher: Piccadilly Press | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1848129436 | |
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After their parents mysteriously disappeared, Grace and Danni have been left to run the family bakery. But Grace needs the doughnuts and sweet treats that Danni bakes for a rather unusual reason...even though she's only ten years old, she is a monster hunter! Monsters have a very sweet tooth, and Grace uses a number of methods to defeat them such as throwing baking powder on them, or tricking them into eating a sweet treat that will, ultimately, be their demise. One day, though, Grace finds herself facing a cyclops monster called Mr Harris, who has a weakness for doughnuts but doesn't seem to explode as the other monsters do, and so things start to get very strange…
This is a really fun story, playing on the idea of monsters under the bed but taking it to a whole other level, with all sorts of different monsters causing trouble in the human world. Although there is a sense of danger, it isn't overwhelming, and it's fun to see that it's a ten year old girl saving children from the monsters by exploding them with her baking powder goodies. Things do get more complicated with Mr Harris, and suddenly Grace finds herself trying to protect the Prime Minister from Mr Harris, and also trying to unravel the mystery of her missing parents.
I really liked the monster, Mr Harris! He's cleverly written, and all of the situations with him are very funny, especially the banter between him and Grace, and whenever Grace tricks him into eating doughnuts! I don't want to give away spoilers, but I also liked that we get to see the monster world too. We also meet a little boy, Frank, who spent much of his childhood in monster world, and his story is engaging as well. The book moves along at a good pace, and definitely held my attention, mostly because I wanted to see how things turned out for Mr Harris.
The black and white illustrations are brilliant, fun and energetic, portraying the various different monsters and the funny situations along the way. They help break up the text, and make it an accessible read for those who can't yet face a chapter book without any pictures. Because Mr Harris was my favourite I mostly looked forward to seeing his pictures, especially of him playing board games! They help show the funny situations, and move the story along.
It's a fun idea for a story, and I think the characters have been well set up, so I'm looking forward to seeing more books about Grace and, of course, Mr Harris!
You might also like to read these other monstrous stories! Jack Slater and the Whisper of Doom by John Dougherty or Oliver Moon and the Monster Mystery by Sue Mongredien
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