My Brother is a Monster / My Sister is a Monster by Natalie Reeves Billing illustrated by Lisa Williams #Review

 

 

Welcome to the latest in The Monstrous Me series of children's picture books.
 

The Monstrous Me Collection is a split perspective book range looking at situations from another point of view to help children develop a sense of balance, roundedness and wellbeing. Readers can turn the story on its head and look at the very same situations from different angles.

 

In this book, ‘My Brother is a Monster/My Sister is a Monster’
two siblings are convinced the other is a monster. But, are they really? When we look at the story from the other side, we see a very different story.

 This is another lovely addition to the Monstrous Me collection. I have read it with a 4 year old and a 7 year old and they were both amused by the humour. As before, there are plenty of opportunities to explore conversations about feelings and seeing things from another's point of view. Lisa Williams has done another beautiful job with the illustrations and the pages are full of colour and bold pictures. There are also the Monstrometers to look out for monsters on every page, which my young readers enjoyed doing.

    The 'split perspective' nature of the story works well. The text is well laid out and clear for the reader. Reading couplets make it ideal for reading aloud or sharing. I am sure that children will recognise elements of their own life in the story and in the pictures. There is such a lot to point out about feelings and emotions in everyday life.

Cat and Mouse say: Keep looking out for those monsters!

 

About the Author

 

Natalie Reeves Billing is a Liverpool lass with a dark sense of humour, which often spills onto the page. She loves to write spooky, fantastical stories for young audiences, and dabbles in poetry, contemporary fiction.

Natalie spent most of her early career in the music industry as a performer and professional songwriter. This lead, almost inevitably, to storytelling.

Natalie is an Arvon Foundation friend and is a student of the Golden Egg Academy. She is mentored under the Lloyds Bank SSE program, with her Bubs Literacy project. She is published in several anthologies with her poetry and flash fiction, including the Writing on the Wall, Read Now, Write Now, and is involved in several collaborations with fellow writers across poetry, song, and scriptwriting.

Connect with Natalie on Twitter @BillingReeves 

Thanks to Natalie Reeves Billing and Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for a copy of the book and a place on the tour. 

Check out the rest of the tour!