The Tragic Tale of Dwayne the Eating Monster

The Tragic Tale of Dwayne the Eating Monster

By Valentina Mendicino 
Published by Top That! Publishing

Meet Dwayne the monster, he’s not very good at much except eating and boy does he have an appetite! This funny, lift-the-flap book, is Valentina Mendicino first published book, featuring a very greedy monster! Her second book, The Really Abominable Snowman is about another monster, which I reviewed earlier this year.

In The tragic tale of Dwayne the Eating Monster, we meet Dwayne and the only thing Dwayne loves to do is EAT! One day he decides to try eating new things, and to find out what you need to lift the flap over his tummy. You'll discover he'd eaten a cat followed by the next door neighbour’s dog. His neighbour isn't impressed - but it doesn’t stop him from feeling hungry. The more Dwayne eat the BIGGER he got. Dwayne grew so big that he couldn’t sleep in his bed or tie his shoelaces and couldn’t even fit through his front door any more. But Dwayne doesn’t care, he just wants to keep eating and grows bigger and BIGGER. There’s lots of flaps to lift up and discover whats in his tummy which is lots of fun. 

Unfortunately, as Dwayne gets bigger, so does his appetite, Dwayne starts to eat whole towns and cities! Nothing is safe from Dwayne, not even planet Earth and the Moon. Soon there is nothing left to eat and with a rumbling tummy, something happens that Dwayne thought would never happen - I don’t want to ruin this story, but lets just say there is always a bigger fish in the sea!

Valentina Mendicino’s illustrations are big and bright. Your eyes are drawn to the very pink Dwayne and the many items of food and things you wouldn’t consider food like an iron, a lamppost and even a ladder. 

The recommended age is 3 years and over and children will love lifting the flaps to discover what, or even whom, has become Dwayne’s latest meal. And even though Dwayne is a very greedy and naughty monster, you will feel slightly sorry for him at the end! All in all this is a very inventive story for use in a Lift-The-Flap Book, one that children will want to explore again and again. The tragic tale of Dwayne the Eating Monster is available to buy now at all good bookshops or direct from Top That! publishing online.

A huge thank you to Valentina for providing me this review copy. She even signed it for my 8 month old daughter, Aoife!

Tickly Fish & Friends

Tickly Fish & Friends!

By Mandy Stanley

Another fab title supplied from Top That Publishing. When this came in the post, I nearly gave myself a fright by catching the pink furry tummy button - A loud ‘tickling’ laugh echoed out of the envelope! I had received Tickly Fish & Friends, a bright and colourful sound book, about a tickly fish and her underwater friends who all have tickly tummies.

This book comes from the author/illustrator, Mandy Stanley, who also writes and illustrates the wonderful Lettice series of picture books. The illustrations in Tickly Fish are bold, colourful and they work perfectably with the words and story.

This is a lovely way of introducing under water sea life and with the repetition of being asked ‘Who’s tickling his/her tum?’, it allows the child to look ahead and guess the new animal which can be then followed by tickling the animal’s tummy, and pushing the button to hear their laughing.

A solid book with wipeable cover and pages for little grubby hands, which is always a good thing (as I'm sure I will soon experience with only 5 weeks to go!). I can imagine ending this book with… who’s tickling baby’s tummy?

Tickly Fish & Friends is available to buy in bookshops and from the Top That Publishing website.

A day on the Farm

I was very lucky to receive the following book from Top That Publishing, and what a lovely surprise.

A day on the Farm

Illustrated by Steph Hinton and written by Sally Hopgood

 

 

This lovely illustrated item is a ‘pull-the-tab book’ and my initial thoughts, after quickly flicking through, was that the character design by Steph Hinton was great, it worked well with the colours and patterns, and an overall attractive book.

A sturdy hard back book that will help introduce the names of farm animals and their young; where they live and what sounds they may make, and what you could expect to find on a farm yard.

Writing flows well but even if you had already read this book to your child, you could explore this book in other ways, i.e asking what sounds do the different animals make, where do the animals sleep? Ask them to spot the other animals that can be found on the pages, such as a cat, frog or bird. Lots of fun can be had with this book and maybe an early way of introducing farm animals before actually visiting a farm..

Though I have yet to test this with a little one, the pull outs feel sturdy and I can imagine exploring this book many times throughout their early years.

A day on the farm is available to buy now from all good bookstores and online from Top That Publishing.