Monster Be Good! by Natalie Marshall (Blue Apple Books)

Merely having the word "Monster" anywhere in the title or on the cover of a children's picture book is a guarantee that Charlotte will love it. Monsters (to her at least) represent those slightly subversive, quite often naughty and sometimes quite scary characters that are staple fodder for children's book writers and illustrators.

Browsing the portfolios of most children's illustrators, you're bound to find a few monsters in there - so what can "Monster Be Good!" bring to a genre that's already stuffed to the gills with monstrously good books?

Natalie Marshall's monsters are easily identifiable by most children. Sometimes they're messy, quite often they're crabby and all display quite monstrous behaviour - and we loved her designs for each type. The book may be pitched at a slightly younger audience than Charlotte but nevertheless she loved the huge and bold colour illustrations, interesting page spreads and the inference that there's a little bit of monster in all of us.

We look forward to seeing more from Natalie really soon!

Charlotte's best bit: Scary monster!

Daddy's favourite bit: Great retro-style illustrations and some wry digs at kid behaviour.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Blue Apple Books)