View source for Molly Maybe's Monsters: The Dappity Doofer by Kristina Stephenson

{{infobox2
|title=Molly Maybe's Monsters: The Dappity Doofer
|sort=Molly Maybe's Monsters: The Dappity Doofer
|author=Kristina Stephenson
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=From the creator of Sir Charlie Stinky Socks - a feisty, resourceful girl and her dog. Highly recommended.
|rating=4.5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=32
|publisher=Simon & Schuster Kids
|date=August 2015
|isbn=978-1471121074
|website=http://www.sircharliestinkysocks.co.uk/author/
|video=
|aznuk=1471121070
|aznus=1471121070
|cover=1471121070
}}

Molly Maybe lives in Smallsbury, a ''snoringly, boringly, ordinary place'' - well, it is until you discover the town's best kept secret.  But before we talk about that, let me tell you about Molly's treehouse, where she and her dog, Waggy Burns, can look out over her neighbours' gardens.  Mr Bottomly Brown is doing some digging (it's going to be a pond) and he's discovered something rather peculiar: it looks like a small statue.  Three days later the statue is in place in the middle of the pond but that's not what's making Mr Brown angry - there are piles of soil all over his perfect lawn.  He's convinced that it's moles, but Molly has spotted a claw and she knows better.

Molly saw that it was a monster and she knew that she and Waggy Burns were going to have to go underground to find out what was happening.  And this is where you discover Smallsbury's best-kept secret (you've been very patient - thank you) as Molly opens a trapdoor in the tree house to reveal the Mundervator, a marvellous contraption which will take them to Undermunder where the monsters live.  Now, to follow Molly and Waggy Burns on their journey you're going to have to turn the book every which way and back again as it's a very twisty tunnel.  But when the two finally arrive they discover where Mr Brown's statue came from.  You're going to discover something too: you're going to find out that monsters (or anyone who looks ''different'') just might not always be scary.  In fact they might be in a bit of a fix and frightened, just like everyone can be.

It's hard to believe that it's seven years since I discovered [[Sir Charlie Stinky Socks and the Really Frightful Night by Kristina Stephenson|Sir Charlie Stinky Socks]], but since then the series has been consistently good and many a little boy will have been charmed.  But what about little girls?  Well, that's where Molly Maybe comes in - although it would be a very unchivalrous young man who wasn't charmed by her.  She's not in the least a girly girl, but resourceful and decidedly feisty - an excellent role model.

It's a good story with a twist at the end which will have a young audience sniggering joyfully, but it's the illustrations which lift the book above the normal run.  You'll find something new on every reading, such as the plasters on Molly's knees, which you only get to see when her socks fall down.  It's a story with staying power - the sort which your toddler will enjoy at the age of three but still return to when school is beckoning.  I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

You'll find a selection of recently-published picture books which your toddler will enjoy [[Newest For Sharing Reviews|here]].  Kristina Stephenson illustrated [[From the Day You Were Born by Sophie Piper and Kristina Stephenson|From the Day You Were Born by Sophie Piper]].

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