Monster Max and the Bobble Hat of Forgetting; Robin Bennett, illustrated by Tim Tinn-Disbury19/12/2020
The Bobble Hat of Forgetting is the first in a new series about Monster Max and it is great fun.
Max may seem like a normal child who lives in a normal house on a normal street with his normal parents. Only Max is very much not normal. When he burps he turns into a rather large and incredibly hairy monster. Monster Max is not exactly responsible and often finds himself causing all manner of monstrous mischief; eating dustbins, bounding over rooftops, scaring old ladies, climbing on statues and smashing through greenhouses. Tired of being the monster that is always causing trouble, Max vows to protect and do good stuff. And his first good deed will be to stop a local vandal that is destroying the town. Unfortunately for Max, someone thinks that he is the one that is causing all the damage and Max finds himself being hunted by the determined Peregrine and his latest invention, his POOP (Portable Operating Omni Prison) machine. Can Max catch the real vandal before Peregrine catches him… Monster Max and the Bobble Hat of Forgetting is a monstrously good read that had me laughing-out-loud with the same vigour as one of Max’s monstrous burps. It is sure to be a hit with young readers as they will love the comedy and humour and will delight in the Max’s bum and poop related jokes. Max often finds himself transitioning between boy and monster at the most unfortunate of times. Burping often happens when he least expects it and an allergy to flowers causes its own problems. Max is a great character, whether he is being boy Max or Monster Max he is never far away from a bit of mayhem and mischief, and quickly finds himself in madcap chases mostly involving his nemesis, Peregrine, with his wacky inventions. Max is torn between his two characters and I loved the advice that his mum gave him, “Always, always be yourself - even if it has risks, even if it is very hard sometimes.” Great advice for readers both young and old. A delightful back story about Max’s parents and the rather important secret that they have been keeping from him is woven into the narrative and I hope that a visit to Krit to meet more of its residents is a possibility in future books. The book has funny illustrations throughout and the copy that I received still had plenty of illustrations that were marked as ‘illustration to come’ so I look forward to seeing those when the book hits the shelves. The first book in what looks like a great new series and one that will have young readers gobbling up the pages as quickly as Monster Max gobbles up dustbins. Publishes on the 18th February 2021. Recommended for 7+. With huge thanks to the lovely peeps at Firefly Press for the advanced reader copy that was obtained via Netgalley.
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