Hello, Monster!

Remarkably imaginative and funny, this tale of mayhem and murder has been translated from the French and is about as wonderfully weird as they come!  The little boy has been told by his mum whilst playing happily by himself in the park, to go over and ‘say hello’ to another boy playing on his own: ‘I hate, hate, HATE saying hello to little boys in sandpits.’  Besides, his mum has always told him not to talk to strangers; he will make friends when he wants to, he thinks.  Imagination takes over, and he plots a long, involved story – which includes the sandpit boy turning out to be a monster, who drags him down into his sandpit lair along with lots of other children who must be his slaves.  Further adventures include an invented code, a mass escape, a black panther who eats only monsters, and repentant parents who vow never to tell their children to ‘say hello’ again!  The whole tone of the story is quite sophisticated, as are the illustrations.  Full of detail and lots of humour, they evoke a world unknown to anyone but the highly imaginative.  Huge fun, and the end papers are a treat!