Monster Doughnuts by Gianna Pollero
Illustrated by Sarah Horne
Published by Piccadilly Press
256 pages
Publication Date: 15th April 2021
ISBN: 978-1848129436
Paperback: £6.99
Author Contact Details:
Twitter: @GiannaPP
Home | Gianna Pollero – Author
Illustrator Contact Details:
Twitter: @sarahhorne99
Sarah Horne | Artist and Illustrator. www.sarahhorne.co.uk follow: @sarahhorne9 (wordpress.com)
Sarah Horne- Illustrator – Home | Facebook
Publisher Contact Details:
Twitter: @PiccadillyPress
Piccadilly Press – Home | Facebook
Under 100 characters summary:
10 year old Grace defeats all monsters by feeding them with cakes and doughnuts!
The first line:
The monster’s breath was awful.
The key characters:
Grace
Danni (her sister)
Mr Harris (a cyclops)
Max Hunter
Frankenstein
Neville
Prime Minister Attwood
What do you need to know?
The story follows a small girl called Grace who battles all sorts of different monsters from cyclopes to UTTBs to Wardrobe lurkers – all the sorts of monsters you knew were real when you were 10. Along with her big sister, Danni, who mainly tries to run the family’s bakery since their parents disappeared, the two girls are on a mission to protect all young children out there. Its a great team, Grace finds the monsters and disposes of them with the different delicacies that Danni bakes (the ones that aren’t for humans). Along the way, they run into the determined, resourceful and downright rude, Mr Harris, who is on his own mission, and are helped by the mysterious Max and Frankenstein. Will they find their parents? Will they be able to defeat all the monsters they come across? What is Mr Harris’ evil plan?
My review:
Its strange, sometimes, you just know you are going to like a book from the first few chapters, and that was the case with this one. I think the description of the life the girls have, the introduction of the missing parents, the relationship between the two girls and the bustle of everyday life mixed with the extraordinariness of baking for monsters is just the right recipe for me, and I was enthralled by the world in which Gianna Pollero had created.
I love the idea of giving each of the monsters its own score card, like in top trumps. I can really see these being made and children in Year 3 and 4 playing with them! The chapters are a perfect length to read in class. I can see creating your own monster and writing about it being a big hit in class. There are plenty of super illustrations to go alongside the story by Sarah Horne. My only negative would be that I would like to see loads more in the book! I also love the character of Mr Harris – he is everything you would expect from a Bond villain – he is clever, ambitious, sarcastic and he thrives on schadenfreude. There are quite a few funny moments, but not fart joke silly, just funny. But not too many, to spoil the plot. For example, when Mr Harris talks to himself (like all good baddies do) he keeps saying that he wants to ‘eat’ the Prime Minister not ‘meet’ the Prime Minister. The plot builds up nicely and by the end you are willing the characters to notice what is happening just before it does!
One of the most exciting things about this book, is that in the publisher’s leaflet that goes with the book there is always details about the author and the publisher. The biography about Gianna, says that she took a ‘Curtis Brown Online Writing for Children’ (www.curtisbrowncreative.co.uk) course in 2017 and now in 2021 she has published her first book. This is incredibly inspiring for any prospective authors!
I can’t wait for Book 2 in the series, and would very much like to review it and be on its blog tour!
Thank you to Piccadilly Press for the Proof copy to review.
Kinkajousreadtoo 
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