July children's bookclub choice: Rory and the Monstersitter - apply for a free copy

[NataliaMumsnet]

Rory loves to cook. He's always inventing scrumptious recipes like blue pancakes, cheese bats and hairy cakes. One evening, when his mum and dad go out to dinner leaving Rory and his siblings with the babysitter, he decides to experiment a little further in the kitchen…

This is a funny, quirky book with a great twist that will be fun to read for both children and parents. If you’d love to read this with your DCs, apply for a free copy and come back to let us know what they think or post up a review.

[frazzledbutcalm]

Have applied, we also make blue pancakes!!

[ChristyanFox]

I know Rosie Reeve and saw this book at an early stage of its development. It's a terrific story (I always know it's good if I wish I'd thought of it myself) and Rosie's 'traditional-with-a-quirk' illustration style just keeps on getting better. Great fun for child readers and grown-ups alike.

[NataliaMumsnet]

This giveaway is now closed and the lucky winners will be notified soon. Don't forget to return to this thread to discuss the book and you can also leave a review here.

[edwarv29]

Looking forward to reading it with my little man George . Thank you

[MrsRedWhite214]

Rory is a little monster who is left at home one night with his siblings and a babysitter (Monstersitter). He loves cooking weird and wonderful dishes, so when his parents go out he starts cooking a new dish.

A lovely colourful book for little ones to enjoy. There are little details in the pictures for children to talk around to explain what is going on away from the main story. It is easy to understand with some fun alliterative sentences.

[StantonLacy]

We received this book just this morning and both DD (4) and DS (6) wanted to read it straight away.

DD was VERY confused by the storyline and by the ending - I won't give away any spoilers, but she was a bit 'Really? Really?!' when I had to explain it to her. She is only four, but can usually pick up on subtleties in plot etc but this just bamboozled her!

DS, on the other hand obviously understood straight away what had happened - his verdict? 'Mom, it was soooooo funny!' So, it clearly made sense to him.

I think it's a nice bright book, the children liked the characters of Rory and his siblings but...DD is not keen on a re read. This is from a child that loves the nastier aspects of the Grimms Fairy Tales etc and is positively bloodthirsty at times in her choice of reading matter - I think it was possibly too matter of fact for her, too 'normal' (the conclusion/reveal) and had it been slightly more 'horrible', shall we say, she would have enjoyed it more.

Anyway, sorry to be negative - we are very grateful for our copy nonetheless It just didn't gel with my (picky) child!

[stephgr]

The book arrived today and my children who really enjoyed Rosie Reeves' When Tom met Tallulah and Something Magic in the Night, couldn't wait to start it. I insisted we save it until bed-time which meant they were keen to go to bed this evening whereas it's normally a struggle to get them up the stairs! My 4 year old son absolutely loved this book and my daughter aged 7 thought it was hilarious. My son said he wants to look at it again in the morning! They both adore the pictures and my daughter even thought the bugs were appealing. It was a really entertaining, fun and easy read so I will definitely be recommending it to other mums.

[Dolallytats]

DS6, although a big fan of monsters in general, did not like the monsters eating every person/being that came to the door.

It also seemed to jump around a bit which didn't make it flow very well.

[edwarv29]

My little boy wanted me to read this as soon as we got it. We have read it every night for 3 nights running!. He loves it especially the pictures and he likes the hairy cakes so much he wants us to make hairy cakes ! He is only 2 and a half lol.

[verap]

Well, we love the illustrations but my daughter who is almost 5 didn't quite understand what was the story about so I had to explain what happened to the babysitter... it wasn't perfectly clear at all and the fact that someone cooked someone for dinner... she thought it was awful.
We didn't like this book.

[CheeseEMouse]

I wasn't keen on the plot to be honest and whilst the illustrations are cheery enough I found it a bit grim. My daughter liked the pictures but don't think she realised what was going on and was upset like other children.

[HazelDormouse]

There will always be some books which do not appeal to some individuals. I am sorry to say this didn't appeal to my son at all. The pictures are excellent. However, the story plot left my son (aged 4 1/2) totally nonplussed. I would suggest the concept of eating your babysitter, even if it is a somewhat horrible monster, is for an older child, and even then, I am somewhat dubious.

Thank you for the copy. I think it is excellent that we get the opportunity to read different books that we would not normally read. Mostly the books (adult and children alike) that I have reviewed for Mumsnet have been thoroughly enjoyable; very few have been a complete miss like this one.

[PeterParkerSays]

DS (4) has read this but it just didn't grab us enough. He also read this as a library book - it has about 20 words in it and had DS howling with laughter. The Rory book - didn't raise a smirk.

I'm just not sure he know what to make of it.

[sjonlegs]

THE PILOT & THE LITTLE PRINCE - REVIEW

This book arrived in the post this morning ... and couldn't have been better timed.

My eldest son is off school today, sickly and very out of sorts, just wanting to sit and cuddle - so I read the book to him cover to cover. What a beautiful tale and we marvelled at the illustrations. My son has always loved being read to.

It's my middle son's 9th Birthday on Sunday and I just know that he will love this book as a special little gift. Not only for the lovely illustrations but for the insightful text and geographical references. I believe he will get as much joy from this as I did when I read Le Petit Prince when I was a child.

This book is a wonderfully accessible memoir for little people.

Thank you for sharing such a literary gift.

[dewdneyk]

Loved it and didn't see the ending coming at all - which had us rolling around with laughter. This will be a favourite that is read over and over again.

[missorinoco]

Hilarious! This will be a favourite for a while. I shall think of it as a gift for other children too.

[Sunflower22]

I love the book - still a bit too much for my little son but I am sure it will become a favourite. I love the Little Prince, and the illustration in this book are really beautiful.

[mineymo]

Thank you for our copy of this book. I read it with my 2 year old this morning. He is a big fan of cooking and eating, so he enjoyed the first part of the book. I think that the reveal went right over his head, but it entertained me at least. We enjoyed the illustrations as well, very nice and bright. I think that 2 is a bit too young to understand the story, but I'm sure that we will return to it in the future.

[Markmyplace13]

My 4 yr old dd loves this book, thank you. We are new to Rosie Reeve so will be looking out for her other books for the summer holidays. Dd loved the food descriptions and the illustrations and colours really caught her attention. It has been her go to story book for the last three evenings and has pride of place on on the top of her stack of books on her bedside table. Similar to another poster, my dd didn't quite get the twist at the end on the first reading, I did have to explain but on the second reading she was ready to shout 'yuck'. Think the illustrations really make this book. Thanks again.

[lrb1982]

We were delighted to receive Rory and the Monstersitter book. I read it to my three year old. He loved all the interesting food that Rory cooks. For us the topic of a baby sitter was useful as he has only been baby sat by my parents but it will be useful to read when the time comes for babysitters. However I think he was too young for the twist in the book. It scared him slightly. Being a teacher tho I know that 5/6/7 year olds would love it!

[MTBMummy]

Thanks for the book, DD loved the images and the story, but especially loved the twist in the end, but she is going through a gory patch.

Thanks so much, it's read so frequently that I know it by heart, and DD can now read and write monster

[newlark]

Ds (5) liked the illustrations and the silly food but didn't get what had happened until I asked him what he thought had happened to the babysitter! I've posted my review in the review section.

[Adviceonseizures]

I

[Adviceonseizures]

I really like this book, my 3 year old didn't get the joke but enjoyed hearing about the disgusting food being eaten. My 7 year old really enjoyed the story and found the food being eaten hilarious and also understood the joke and found it highly amusing that they might have eaten their babysitter!

So great book for my 7 year old and I'm sure my 3 year old will enjoy it even more when he gets to the stage of understanding the joke.

[Bose1]

Love The Pilot and the Little Prince. The illustrations gorgeous and the pages without any words at all leave time for pondering the story.