The Roar of Cerberus: A QUIX Book

by Joan Holub, Suzanne Williams, Toby Allen (Illustrator)

Overview

From the authors of the Goddess Girls and Heroes in Training series comes the third book in the School for Magical Monsters series about Cerberus overcoming their fears—part of the Aladdin QUIX line!

Cerberus is a three-headed Beast with a scary-dragon tail. Each head has its own name and special sense. But all three share a big secret: they are afraid of EVERYTHING. They are even afraid to test out their bark! At their school, more Creatures than Beasts have earned their specials powers, and Cerberus wants to help their team even the score.

When they are triple-dog-dared by the mysterious Sphinx to teach her how to bark, Cerberus is worried she will find out their embarrassing secret. And when their counter-dare to Sphinx goes a little awry, Cerberus leans that they might have more courage than they ever imagined.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781665917766
Publisher:	Aladdin
Publication date:	05/06/2025
Series:	School for Magical Monsters , #3
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Joan Holub has authored and/or illustrated over 140 children’s books, including the Goddess Girls series, the Heroes in Training series, the New York Times bestselling picture book Mighty Dads (illustrated by James Dean), and Little Red Writing (illustrated by Melissa Sweet). She lives in North Carolina and is online at JoanHolub.com.

Suzanne Williams is a former elementary school librarian and the author of over seventy books for children, including the award-winning picture books Library Lil (illustrated by Steven Kellogg) and My Dog Never Says Please (illustrated by Tedd Arnold), and several chapter book and middle grade series. She also coauthors the Goddess Girls and Thunder Girls series with the fantastic Joan Holub. Visit her at Suzanne-Williams.com.

Toby Allen is a freelance illustrator from the UK, specializing in character design—for publishing as well as games—and children’s book illustration. He has also worked as a 2D game artist for mobile and board and tabletop games and contributed to a variety of other projects that span from classical music to mental health.

Read an Excerpt

1 Three-Headed Dog

 

  “Arooo! Arooo! Arooo!” That means “Hello! Hello! Hello to you!” in dog talk. It can also mean “goodbye,” “I’m hungry,” or something else.

  Anyway, as you can see, I’m a Beast! A three-headed dog with three big-toothed grins and a dragon tail. Scary, right? We dare you to come closer!

  Ha! We see you shaking your head no. Good choice. Because if you take our dare, we might bark so loud your ears will hurt!

  Our name is Cerberus. (You say it like this: SER-burr-us.) But each of us dog heads have our own special name too.

  “I’m Sniffy, the dog head with the best sense of smell.”

  “I’m Ruff-Ruff, the middle and growliest head.”

  “And I’m Flappy. My big ears help me hear really well. And right now, my ears tell me someone is coming.” Clip-clop! Clip-clop!

    It’s our teacher, Mr. Chiron. He’s a centaur—half human and half horse. He’s galloping toward us across Mighty Meadow, where we’re waiting for him to start class. This grassy, flowery meadow is our outdoor school. Mr. Chiron says that the stuff we learn here will make us mighty!

  Wind whips colorful flags atop the tall poles that ring our meadow. The sun is shining. It’s a great day. What could go wrong? Plenty, when it comes to Beasts and Creatures!

  There are six of each here at the School for Magical Monsters. That’s twelve students in all. Our school’s on Mount Olympus and it’s awesome-pawsome! One teensy problem, though. Beasts and Creatures don’t get along. But with our teacher’s help, we’re all working on it.

  “Good morning, students!” Mr. Chiron calls out when he reaches us. He teaches us about all kinds of subjects. One day he gave us tools to make metal sculptures. Another time we learned to help frowny flowers smile again. What will it be today? we all wonder. We soon find out.

  “Today will be Make and Do Day!” he tells us. We look at one another, wondering what this means.

  “Making a friend often happens while doing good,” he explains. “So that’s what Make and Do Day is all about. Making friends while doing good!”

  All of us Beasts and Creatures groan. We can’t help it. Because we know what’s coming next.

  “Today you’ll work in six groups,” Mr. Chiron says. “One Beast and one Creature on each two-person team.”

  Argh! Our teacher is always pairing us up like this. To try to get Beasts and Creatures to become better friends. Some days his plan works. Other days not so much.

  “In a minute, you’ll each choose a teammate,” Mr. Chiron goes on. “Then you’ll ask your teammate to help you solve a problem. Maybe your teammate needs help making something new or fixing something that’s broken. Or maybe they just need someone to listen while they talk about something that’s troubling them.”

  Flappy flaps his big ears. “I’ve got two good listening ears,” he whispers proudly.

  “When I clap, you’ll pair up in teams of two,” our teacher says. He raises both hands. Clap!

  We all look around, wondering who to choose. Beasts wear beanies with the letter B. Creatures wear caps with a C. Since long ago, Beasts and Creatures have played tricks on each other. Our teacher wants us get along. But trust is hard.

  Sniffy nods toward a winged horse named Pegasus. “He’s okay—for a Creature, that is. Let’s ask him to be on our team.” But before we can, Pegasus teams up with a Beast named Chimera.

  Those two are so lucky! They were the first students to get magic powers. Pegasus’s bright white wings are his power. They allow him to fly! Chimera has three heads—lion, goat, and dragon ones. She earned the power to breathe fire. Now she can make yummy s’mores with a fiery blast from her nose.

  A Creature named Cyclops also got a power. Her magic eyeball lets her see things super close-up! Like the rest of our classmates, we hope to get a power soon too.

    “So far, Creatures are doing better than us Beasts when it comes to getting powers,” Ruff-Ruff notes.

  Flappy nods. “Yeah, it’s two against one. Creatures in the lead.”

  “Today a Beast needs to win a power to make it even!” says Sniffy, punching a clawed paw high.

  “That’s right! A Beast named Cerberus!” we say. “Arooo!”

  But we all know that magic powers don’t just choose a Beast or Creature by chance. Those powers have to be earned. Hmm. How can we earn one?