Monster Chefs

by Brian Anderson, Liam Anderson, Brian Anderson (Illustrator)

Overview

The horribly horrible monster king summoned his four equally horrible chefs.

"I am tired of eating only eyeballs and ketchup," roared the king.

"Find me something new to eat or you will find yourselves on my menu!"

Trembling with fear, they each set off in a different direction to look for something truly scrumptious. But what, besides eyeballs and ketchup, could a monster king possibly want to eat? A rabbit? A fish? A snake? What one finally brings back may change dinnertime in the kingdom forever.

A Neal Porter Book

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781466867666
Publisher:	Roaring Brook Press
Publication date:	03/18/2014
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	25 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Brian Anderson is the author and illustrator of Nighty Night, Sleepy Sleeps and The Prince's New Pet, both from Roaring Brook Press. He is also the creator of the comic strip Dog Eat Doug which now appears in over 150 newspapers nationwide. He wrote Monster Chefs with his five-year-old son, Liam. They live in Mooresville, North Carolina.

Editorial Reviews

01/20/2014
In the monster king’s castle, the spécialité de la maison is ketchup and eyeballs, and the regent, a furry Cyclops with bird legs, is sick of it. He dispatches four ghoulishly goofy chefs to find him a new culinary delight. Three come back empty-handed, having been bamboozled by an ingredient (“Look around you,” a sly desert snake tells one chef. “When you eat a ssssssnake you turn to sssssand”). But the fourth chef brings back a coolly confident human pastry chef, who introduces the king to cupcakes, and the rest is... well, a lot of cupcakes (“decorated with eyeballs, of course”). Brian Anderson (The Prince’s New Pet), collaborating with his five-year-old son Liam, focuses his visual storytelling almost entirely on character, with much of the action taking place in highly distilled settings against white backgrounds. The narration is a winner from beginning to end: aurally redolent (“The king, spit seething from his massive mouth, glared down at them”) and punctuated with lovely alliteration and delectable vocabulary, it’s like a tasting course for the ear—and a performer’s dream. Ages 4–7. Agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Little monsters following along at home will also likely clamor to try out their baking skills.” —BCCB

“Delicious! Especially when decorated with eyeballs.” —Kirkus Reviews

“With its repetition and motif of wee animals outsmarting ogres, this has the feel of a folktale, but it is never stodgy, thanks to the adorable, and often hilarious, watercolor depictions of the beasties. Bonus(?): a recipe for Eyeball Cupcakes.” —Booklist

From the Publisher

2014-01-29
It's hard to tell which came first, the story or the cupcake, but either way, this picture book is a treat. Starting with the title pages, the atmospheric mood is set with a murky purple landscape. A sign that reads "kitchen" points readers down a ladder into a hole, where four monster chefs try to appease their king's appetite. The "horribly horrible" king has always eaten eyeballs and ketchup (youngsters will surely squirm and scream at this), and the simple text gets right to the point: The king wants something new to eat. He sends each chef in a different direction, threatening to eat them if they fail to find something to tantalize. The white background makes it easy to focus on the cartoonish monsters and their expressions. Despite tentacles, claws, bat wings, and in one case, lots of eyes, the chefs look rather dear. Children will empathize with them, especially after three are duped by would-be dinners. A rabbit threatens: "If you eat a rabbit, you turn into a rabbit. That is why there are so many of us." The fourth chef comes up with an ingenious solution—he brings back a…chef…who makes…cupcakes. Delicious! Especially when decorated with eyeballs. (recipe) (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews