How to Teach Your Monster to Read

by Christianne Jones, Katya Longhi (Illustrator)

Overview

A young child can’t wait to teach her pet monster to read. However, the stress is just too much, and her monster runs away. Not to be discouraged, the child uses clues from word families to find her monster. This silly picture book playfully introduces young prereaders to phonemic awareness skills, supporting them on their journey to literacy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684363209
Publisher:	Capstone
Publication date:	08/01/2025
Series:	How to Teach Your Monster
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	5 - 7 Years

About the Author

Katya Longhi was born in 1984 in Modica, a small town in Southern Italy. She grew up in Trento and studied at the Art Academy in Florence. Since then she has studied illustration at Nemo NT Academy of Digital Arts. When she was a child she drew everything she saw – she has countless drawings of ice cream and Snoopy! Katya completed several animation and illustration workshops, which she found invaluable as they helped her establish her style, and were the stimulation for her passion. Katya works digitally but she begins by drawing with pencil on paper. She then scans the work onto her computer where she enhances the piece with her finishing touches. In her spare time, Katya loves to going out with his husband, family and friends, and collect snow globes and Toy Story characters. She currently works as a freelance illustrator based in Trento, where she lives with her very own Prince Charming! She has also exhibited in numerous art exhibitions throughout Italy.

Christianne Jones grew up in a small town with three sisters, no cable, and parents who were teachers. After college, Christianne became an editor at a children’s book company and began writing. She has found her niche in the picture book genre and has written many popular titles, including Donut Worry, Miles McHale, Tattletale, Harrison P. Spader, Personal Space Invader, and Lacey Walker, Nonstop Talker. Lacey Walker, Nonstop Talker won a 2013 Gelett Burgess Award and was a Midwest Book Award finalist. Christianne lives in Mankato, Minnesota, with her husband and three daughters.

Interviews

Provides a Science of Reading tie-in to classroom and home reading;

Editorial Reviews

2025-05-16
Learning to read is hard work—for kids and monsters alike.

A monster with a scruffy orange body, purple ears and tail, and short rounded horns disappears after a tough reading lesson. “It’s kind of my fault,” reflects the story’s narrator, a tan-skinned child with curly brown hair. “I got carried away. I was acting like a teacher the other day.” It’s an insightful remark, but after a promising start, the book goes downhill as the youngster proceeds on a truly didactic search for the monster. “Word families look and sound the same at the end. Let’s use this knowledge to find my best friend.” Charts of word families appear with relentless frequency, competing with both the rhyming text and words that appear in the accompanying cartoon illustrations (for instance, a welcome mat or a button with the phrase “Reading for the win!”). Kids learning to sound out words will enjoy predicting the text; after the protagonist observes, “As I sit sipping from my favorite MUG, / I’m gently pulled into a giant…,” youngsters will eagerly shout out “HUG!” But on the whole, the attempt to blend a literacy tutorial with an exploration of how to be a good friend may prove overwhelming for the intended audience of pre-readers.

A solid effort hampered by information overload. (author’s notes, activities)(Picture book. 4-6)

Kirkus Reviews