Monster School: First Day Frights

by Dave Keane, Dave Keane (Illustrator)

Overview

Norm is perfectly normal. That is, until he finds himself at a new school full of monsters. Without fangs, horns, or a tail, suddenly Norm has become the odd one out. But as the day goes on, Norm's unusual classmates find that Norm isn't too unlike them after all, and Norm thinks he may actually fit right in.

Monster School: First Day Frights is the perfect book for any beginning reader who has ever felt a little bit different. Learn to read with Norm, Hilda, and the whole beastly crew at Monster School!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060854768
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/26/2012
Series:	I Can Read Book 2 Series
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Dave Keane always loved monsters as a kid. Halloween was his favorite holiday and he dreamed of becoming a werewolf or a vampire when he grew up. Instead, he became a children's book writer and illustrator. Now he and his wife stay busy raising three little monsters of their own in Northern California.

Dave Keane always loved monsters as a kid. Halloween was his favorite holiday and he dreamed of becoming a werewolf or a vampire when he grew up. Instead, he became a children's book writer and illustrator. Now he and his wife stay busy raising three little monsters of their own in Northern California.

Editorial Reviews

With its wide variety of monsters, mild creep and gross factors, and potential to allay some fears about fitting in, this is sure to find a wide audience among beginning readers. Perfectly normal Norm realizes immediately that he does not fit in at his new school. Horns, claws, fangs, strangely colored skin, hairy bits and eyes on stalks are all common at the Monster School, where the teacher is Miss Clops (she has only one eye), and the headless principal announces that, "It is normal to feel odd on your first day." Slightly creepy tongue-in-cheek humor abounds, as it did in the author's Bobby Bramble Loses His Brain (2009), and is sure to elicit chuckles. Is Miss Clops winking or blinking? Will the class ever find Gary, a ghost, in their game of hide-and-seek? Which of the two-headed girl's heads will win the bubble-blowing contest? And most importantly, will Norm ever fit in, or will he be normal forever? Keane's artwork nicely complements the text, his monsters coming off less as scary freaks out to get Norm than as regular kids who look a little different on the outside. Their faces are childlike and expressive--not frightening at all--and the illustrations ably help readers decode vocabulary. Not just for the first day of school; this is sure to appeal year-round. (Early reader. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews