A monster for your own little monsters (Zigby and the Monster - Brian Paterson)

Member Name: pink19

Product:	Zigby and the Monster - Brian Paterson
Date:	29/11/08 (74 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: bold,bright,simple pictures, lovely stories

Disadvantages: none

This book is recommended for ages 3-7 years old. My son is only just under 2 but i picked out this book for him as i love the bright, bold pictures. It is by Brian Paterson and normally retails for £5.99, i got this book from a shop called The Works, it had a sticker for £1.99 on it or it was part of an offer - 4 books for

The pictures instantly drew me to this book, although i did have a good look at others that were recommended for my sons age.

On the first page there is a little introduction which tells you about Zigby and some of his friends of Mudwater Creek.

Zigby is a rather charming and cute zebra. He loves to be outside but always seems to end up getting into trouble.

Zara is also a very cute zebra, she is Zigby's younger cousin. She always gets just what she wants.

Bertie Bird is Zigby's African guinea fowl friend. He's very easily scared but is always in on the action.

Mcmeer is a meercat. He is very cheeky and always showing off. He knows how to have lots of fun but sometimes he can cause problems too.

Zigby is always waiting for a new adventure to come his way, so when his little cousin Zara comes to him and says that she has seen a monster, he can't wait to go exploring to find out who the monster is. She tries to describe the monster she saw and with each extra bit that she tells Zigby he takes her to different creatures round the jungle to find out that he has not found the monster. They eventually decide to lay a trap to catch the monster. Out of the bushes enters the monster just as Zara hass described it, but it turns out to be his friends dressed up for the Mudwater carnival.

The story is not too long, there is a small paragraph on each page, made up of one or two sentences. My son will sit and listen to the whole story, it keeps his attention well. The words are quite large on each page, this is great for children who are learning to read or have just started to read as they don't have to struggle with seeing the words. The pictures in this book remind me very much of Maisy Mouse, they are of very similar style. They are very animated and all pictures have bold, black outlines around them, this helps the pictures to stand out on the page. I also find that the pictures are quite simple and not too busy, theres not a lot on each picture but they are all brightly coloured.

Other titles in the series are-
Zigby Camps Out
Zigby Hunts For Treasure
Zigby and the Ant Invaders
Zigby Dives In

There are books aimed at younger readers also, i've not seen any of these but will definately look out for them. These are recommended for ages 0-3 years old. Some of the titles are-
Zigby- The Birthday Party
Zigby-The Go-Kart
Zigby-THE Picnic
Zigby-The Toy Box.

These books are really lovely with great pictures and fun stories. I would recommend them and will definately be on the look out for more of these books for my son.

Summary: a nice story for any young child