School of monsters: A birthday wish for Bee by Sally Rippin. Illus. by Chris Kennett

The School of Monsters series is a delightfully funny series that uses language with brilliant effect!  In the latest book Bee is gifted with a wishing cake and the results are surprising and slightly out of control.  The story uses rhyming words to encourage independent reading along with lots of humour and bright illustrations. This is a excellent addition to the School of Monsters series.

I really like how these books use language to great effect while still making them accessible for new readers.  The font changes to show the rhymes and at the back of the book there is a page of words to learn in different colours.  The simple vocabulary, colourful characters and fun story is perfect for encouraging and engaging emerging readers.

I love this series and recommend it regularly to teachers and parents.  The author and illustrator have created an engaging series that has laugh out loud moments.  Each book also includes activities and support for fostering a love of reading and literacy skills.  School of Monsters should be on every school library shelf as well as home libraries. This series is perfect for read aloud, read along and read alone as each book is written in a way that supports the success of emerging readers while also covering rhyming and other early literacy skills. 

Themes: Friendship, Magic, Problem-solving.

Mhairi Alcorn