I Can Catch a Monster

I Can Catch a Monster

By Author / Illustrator

Bethan Woollvin

Genre

Friends and family

Age range(s)

3+

Publisher

Pan Macmillan

ISBN

9781509889815

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

17-09-2020

Synopsis

A little rebel girl goes on the hunt for a fearsome monster in this empowering tale about bravery and kindness from the creator of the New York Times Best Illustrated Book Little Red, Bethan Woollvin. 

Meet Bo the Brave. She's smart, she's strong and she is definitely in charge.  Bo's brothers say she is too little to catch a monster. But Bo has other ideas, so she sets off on a quest to catch a beast of her own. Can she defeat the furious griffin, conquer the hideous kraken and triumph over the monstrous dragon?  Or if not, can she make friends with them?

I Can Catch a Monster is a sassy and vibrant picture book with amazing shaped flaps and a message about not judging by appearance and standing up for yourself and your friends from the Macmillan Prize-winning creator of Little Red, Rapunzel and Hansel and Gretel, Bethan Woollvin.

Reviews

Maria

I Can Catch a Monster is a delightful story about Bo, a little girl with two older brothers who leave her out of their adventure to catch a monster.

Feeling smart, brave and strong Bo sets off alone, on her own adventure. Before long she meets a strange creature and takes aim with her bow and arrow, but not before the creature replies begging her to retreat as it is in fact not a monster. Realising the creature is too helpful to be a monster, they become friends and head off to find a real monster, this time by the sea.

This repetitive sequence continues until Bo has formed a group of new friends; creatures that look like monsters but are not! Later, Bo discovers not a monster, but a dragon, in a cave, crying. Its baby has been stolen. Together, Bo and her friends help look for the baby dragon and see smoke coming from the castle. As the friends land at the castle, Bo spots her brothers behaving like monsters with the baby dragon nearby. Bravely, as Bo approaches to get the monsters, she resolves the situation by putting out the scared dragon's flames and soaking her brothers with water! So relieved to have survived the fiery situation, it was agreed that the brothers would never go monster hunting again!

This is a delightful story for young readers with bold, contrasting illustrations adding to the adventure and supporting the understanding of the text. The book could be used to support the teaching of character description, setting and story structure through drama and role play. The repetition throughout helps children to engage and become involved with the text by memorising the sequence and story. This leads well to children creating their own part of the story, or recreating the story using their own ideas.

With plenty of repetitive speech, this story also provides a secure structure to introduce or develop reading with expression. It is also a great text to use to support PSHE covering the concepts of collaboration, resilience and relationships.

Picture book / Ages 4+ / Reviewed by Maria Faithorn, teacher

Suggested Reading Age 5+

 

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