This book introduces us to a little monster called Monty, who does NOT like to eat his people at dinner time.
He whinges that they are too sour, they are too chewy, they are too wriggly and too jiggly. Plus, they keep waving at him. Yuck!
In the end, it is only the promise of his most favourite ever dessert that gets Monty to finish eating his people and let me ask you, who of us can resist a lovely light, sweet Fairy cake or two? Although admittedly, my fairy cakes have never been topped with light, sweet, real live Fairies...
My husband and I raised eyebrows over the kids heads as we read this through for the first time, we just weren't sure how the kids were going to take such grisly subject matter, but they loved it! After our first time reading a copy borrowed from the library, this book was the requested purchase by my three-year-old at the primary school book fair over book week.
Although the subject matter of eating people initially had me a little cautious, David Wojtowucz's vibrant and bubbly illustrations gleam with warm humour, and it helps that there is not even a hint of gore or horror. In fact, the little people appear to be more upset, annoyed, and even miffed that they are disappearing into the big black holes of a monster's mouth, rather than being horrified.
I would not recommend this book for very sensitive children, particularly those prone to nightmares, as it does push the comfort boundaries a little. But for kids with a strong sense of humour and those that appear to be interested in scary things, rather than scared of them, this is a great and entertaining family read and quite a good introduction to the idea of being scared as a fun activity. I think that we will be pulling this out again over the Halloween period for some great scary story time reading!
Title: Eat Your People
Author: Lou Kuenzler
Illustrator: David Wojtowycz
Publisher: Hachette Children's Group, $24.99
Publication Date: 13 September 2016
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781408330333
For ages: 3 - 6 years
Type: Picture Book
