The Yark; Bertrand Santini, illustrated by Laurent Gapaillard

An unusual and quirky tale about a monster with an appetite for children that weaves in messages on the power of love and friendship to change how we feel and how we see the world.

The Yark likes nothing more than the taste and crunch of a delicious child and in the dead of night he creeps around the world sniffing out the most well-behaved children. For you see, the Yark has a weakness, a particularly delicate stomach that gets most awfully upset should a naughty child pass his lips.

Unfortunately, the world is rife with such children but the Yark knows of an ultimate guide to the children he so desperately seeks…Santa’s nice list. The list leads the Yark to the perfectly behaved Madeleine. Will he be able to gobble her up…

The Yark is a monstrously good read about a child-eating monster who once you have met you’ll be hard-pressed to forget. We have all heard of the terrible monsters that will come and seek you out if you misbehave, well Bertrand Santini flips that notion on its head as the Yark seeks out only the most yummy tasting, well-behaved children in the world.

Deliciously dark and wickedly funny, The Yark is not for sensitive souls. By the end of the first page we learn that the loveable monster enjoys the crunch of bones, sucking on eyes that melt like chocolate truffles and feasting on tiny feet, fingers and tongues with a sprig of mint - the Yark does have a refined palate. And that’s just for starters, ‘boys in bacon, orphan gratin, chicken-fried children, breaded babies, legs of twins, brats in a bun, paté of little girl, stuffed schoolchildren, tandooried toddlers, choir boys in a bundt cake’ are all listed as things that will satisfy the appetite of the hungry Yark.

Carried by rich and descriptive language and featuring beautiful dark illustrations, the twisted and sinister read makes for a brilliant fairy-tale-esque story for readers who like their books to be slightly on the macabre side and with plenty of bite. Word of warning, this edge-of-your-seat story is best avoided by readers that scare easily, the Yark is one monster that you definitely don’t want invading your dreams.

Recommended for 8+.