Monster and Boy by Hannah Barnaby illustrated by Anoosha Syed

"Once there was a monster who loved a boy."

As the story opens the boy has not met the monster, who lives under his bed and the monster has not been brave enough to venture out and meet the boy but when mother reads a bedtime story that states monsters are not real it is time for action.

When mother leaves the room the monster comes out from under the bed. The boy screams and the monster gets such a fright he swallows the boy. At this point the off stage narrator steps in (we call this breaking the fourth wall).

"This story is not quite what you were expecting, is it? When a story begins with the word Once, it seems like you know what you're getting into. .. If it makes you feel any better, I am also quite surprised by what just happened. In fact I have no idea what's going to happen next."

Eventually the boy does make it out of the monster's tummy (he is coughed out) but when the boy emerges he is now tiny so we have a new problem. How will the monster restore his new friend back to the right size? Everyone knows food makes things grow but our monster friend lives under the bed. He never ever ventures downstairs. But this is a crisis. When the pair of friends arrive at the kitchen they are in for another surprise. Is this a monster? No it is the the little sister. She is bossy, she is feisty and she is a skilled blackmailer. The little sister might also have and answer to this problem. 

In archly amusing fashion, the author breaks the fourth wall—this is marked by teal-colored page backgrounds—reassuring readers during potentially scary parts of the book, filling in background details, or collegiality including them in aspects of the storytelling. Kirkus Star review

Barnaby’s entertaining narration breaks the fourth wall—indicated by teal pages—encouraging readers to take an active part in the story, while Syed’s bubbly monochromatic illustrations with teal embellishments add whimsy to this amusing story about an unlikely friendship. Publisher's Weekly

There are three books so far in this series - here are the other two titles:

Hannah Barnaby has worked as a children’s book editor, a bookseller, and a teacher of writing for children and young adults. Hannah lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. Anoosha Syed is a Pakistani-Canadian illustrator based in Toronto. She has a passion for creating cute characters with an emphasis on diversity and inclusion.

The best book to read alongside Monster and Boy is Pog which is one of my all time most favourite books to read aloud.

Monster and Boy would be a fabulous class or home read aloud book. I love the discovery of a new book series. even better if the series is for newly independent readers. Even better still if the book contains an off stage narrator. My favourite book that uses this device is O'Diddy by Jocelyn Stevenson.

Monster and Boy has 130 pages with heaps of illustrations, white space and even blank pages which help the reader to keep turning the pages. The designer has used one colour splashed onto the black and white pages. It is a pale aqua blue. If you have read books like Mango and Bambang; Dixie O'Day; or Stick and Fetch then you will be familiar with this style.

Image source: Anoosha Syed