I Want to Be in a Scary Story by Sean Taylor – Book Review
I Want to Be in a Scary Story by Sean Taylor – Book Review
I Want to Be in a Scary Story
Author – Sean Taylor
Illustrator – Jean Jullien
Publisher – Walker Books
Pages – 48
Released – 6th September 2018
ISBN-13 – 978-1406380002
Format – paperback, hardcover
Reviewer – Stacey
Rating – 5 Stars
I received a free copy of this book
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From the team behind the acclaimed Hoot Owl, Master of Disguise comes a very scary read-aloud story … or is it? Monster wants to be in a scary story – but is he brave enough?
Scary stories have creepy witches and creaky stairs and dark hallways and spooky shadows… Oh my goodness me! That is very scary. Maybe a funny story would be better after all?
Brilliantly interactive, children will delight in the wickedly funny turns-of-the-page, see themselves in the goofy, unconventional monster, and revel in the bold, hilarious illustration of celebrated graphic artist, Jean Jullien.
Little Monster decides he wants to be in a scary story. The narrator tries to convince him to be in a funny story instead but he decides that he only wants to be in a scary story.
The narrator places him in a dark and scary forest with an old scary looking house. Monster decides that that was too scary, so the narrator takes away the dark, scary forest and leaves just the house, but that is too scary as well.
Throughout the book, the narrator places the monster in lots of scary situations and with scary people but he doesn’t like any of them. Then he has an idea. He’s a monster and surely he can scare the narrator.
This book is a whole lot of fun and I can see little children loving every minute of it. The book reads as if you, the reader, are the narrator and Little Monster is talking to you. Monster is so amusing. He wants to be in a scary story but it would seem he is scared of everything.
The text is written in two different colours black for the narrator and purple for Monster so you can never mix up who is talking. The font is also clear and large and the sentences are kept short so little children can use this book to practice/learn to read with it.
The illustrations are full page and bring the book to life. They add so much enjoyment to the story and those that can’t quite read yet can actually follow the story via the drawings.
I Want to be in a Scary Story is just a wonderful read and would make a great story for a class read as much as it would do to have at home. I can see this being a book that is asked to be read over and over again.
Reviewed by Stacey
Purchase online from:
Amazon.co.uk – Amazon.com
About the Author
Sean Taylor is an award-winning author of more than 50 books for young readers. His picture books include ‘Hoot Owl, Master of Disguise’, ‘It’s A Groovy World. Alfredo’, ‘Robot Rumpus’, ‘The World Champion of Staying Awake’, ‘When a Monster is Born’ and ‘Crocodiles are the Best Animals of All.’
For 6 – 10 year olds he has published ‘Where The Bugaboo Lives!’, the ‘Purple Class’ series of comic adventures set in an urban primary school, and a collection of folktales from the Amazon called ‘The Great Snake’. His novel for teenagers ‘A Waste of Good Paper’ was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal.
Sean and his family have spent spells living in England (where he was born) and Brazil (where his wife is from).
