My Mummy Is A Monster By Natalie Reeves Billing Review (Random Things Tours)

Today I am on the blog tour for My Mummy Is A Monster (Published by Split Perspectivz 15th April 2020) By Natalie Reeves Billing and illustrated By Lisa Williams. A big thank you to the author for my copy, always appreciated. Also to the lovely Anne for the invite, thank you. 

 

My Mummy Is A Monster

The Monstrous Me series is a split perspective book looking at situations from another point of view to help children develop a sense of balance, roundedness and wellbeing. Readers can literally and figuratively, turn the story on its head, and look at the very same situations from different angles. In this first book, ‘My Mummy’s a Monster’ an inquisitive little girl is convinced her mum is a monster. But, is she really? When we look through her mummy’s eyes, we see a very different story.

 

About The Author

Natalie Reeves Billing is a Liverpool lass with a dark sense of humour, which often spills onto the page. She loves to write spooky, fantastical stories for young audiences, and dabbles in poetry, contemporary fiction. Natalie spent most of her early career in the music industry as a performer and professional songwriter. This lead, almost inevitably, to storytelling. 

Natalie is an Arvon Foundation friend and is a student of the Golden Egg Academy. She is mentored under the Lloyds Bank SSE program, with her Bubs Literacy project. She is published in several anthologies with her poetry and flash fiction, including the Writing on the Wall, Read Now, Write Now, and is involved in several collaborations with fellow writers across poetry, song, and scriptwriting. Her new book, My Mummy is a Monster (part of the Monstrous Me collection) will be available in March 2020 and Carry Love in June 2020.

My Review

Part of the Monster Me Collection, this book is spilt into two stories, one from the child’s point of view and the other from the parent’s.

The first story tells of a little girl who is convinced that her mum is a monster. She warns that mums and dads have monsters hiding inside of them and shows us how to tell. The reader follows a typical day wherein the children have their hair brushed with spikes, are shoved in a metal cage while they go shopping and scrubbed red-raw when having a bath. But then bed-time comes and the mum cuddles the children and kisses them goodnight, leaving the question if she was really a monster at all. 

The second story is told from the mother’s point of view, My Children Are Monsters. The same events take place but with the children as little monsters. It’s an interesting take and made not only me smile and laugh but my boys too. Children and parents can highly relate, seeing similarities and giving that nod of acknowledgement that they know deep down their parents/children must be monsters. 

Both stories flowed beautifully as they are told in rhyme. It gives it that singsong feel as the words come rolling off your tongue in a joyful melody. I always enjoy reading rhyming children’s books as they create a magical atmosphere of make believe and fantasy. I find personally that rhymes make the whole reading experience with your children that much more enjoyable. They join in and remember more of the story, retelling and reciting it word for word. It also works wonders for their memory skills and imagination. 

At the end of each story the children are asked to draw their mummy and themselves as monsters. This helps them expand their creativity and have some fun. There’s also a little game to play on each page where you have to find 7 Monstrometers in the pictures. It’s a great way to keep your little monsters busy while you finally take a sip of your tea and realise that it’s cold…again.

I loved the illustrations and the little details such as another mum in the park pushing their own monster child on a swing. It helped bring the story alive and was a delight to look at. The colours popped and scenes jumped out at you, showing all the chaos and havoc these monsters were creating.

I enjoyed the idea of a spilt perspective book and wonder why there aren’t more out there. They show the same situation from another point of view and this helps children see a sense of balance, how there is always two sides to every story. They can look at it from different angles and see how things can be flipped or turned. It’s a fascinating concept, one that more children should be introduced to, to help growth, understanding and perspective. 

I give My Mummy Is A Monster By Natalie Reeves Billing a Five out of Five paw rating.

 

A monsteriffic story for children and adults alike about how there are always two sides to every story. My boys loved this story. They enjoyed reading both the children’s and mum’s point of view. The pictures made them giggle and they shouted every-time they found a Monstrometer. 

Although now they highly suspect that I am in fact a monster and I am starting to wonder if maybe they are too…

Don’t forget to follow the rest of the blog tour, dates below, enjoy!

 

Links

Buy a copy 

 

@BillingReeves

 

 

Hop hop wiggle wiggle