Reviewed by Kellie Nissen
Come on, who doesn’t want to have their very own pet monster?
Actually, Artie isn’t so fussed about making pet monsters (even though
his monster, Hodgepodge, is now his best friend) but he tends to get dragged
along in the monster-making game with his stepsister, Willow, and their neighbour,
Arabella-Rose. Together, they make up the three members (plus monsters) of The
Monster Club.
Smidgen is the third book in the fun How to Make a Pet
Monster series, following on from Hodgepodge (book 1) and Flummox
(book 2). Artie and Willow stumbled upon ‘The Bigge Boke of Fetching
Monsters’ – a spell book for making monsters – and accidentally created their
first monster. So far, the monsters haven’t turned out exactly like the
monsters in the Bigge Boke – it happens when you don’t quite have the right
ingredients – but they are cute, mischievous, not-at-all-scary and, as it turns
out, often rather useful.
In Smidgen, Willow decides she wants to make another monster for
herself and settles on a dragon, somewhat larger than their previous two
monsters. Before they can get started, a surprise visitor – Zayn Osman – bursts
in through their door in a big sloshy mess.
Trying to hide their monster-making activities from Zayn, Willow tells
him that The Monster Club is a band – and now Zayn, who is one of the sporty,
cool kids at school, thinks they are all pretty cool as well.
They manage to get rid of Zayn but, as usual, their monster making
doesn’t go quite to plan – although they do end up with what looks like a
chicken egg for their troubles. They’ll just have to wait to see what hatches
from it.
In the meantime, Willow’s father (Artie’s stepfather) is trying to
prepare for a cooking show, Whole Lotta Loaf, where the recipe of the day is
souffle. Of course, a souffle contains a number of … you guessed … eggs.
Can you see where this is going?
Somehow, the trio, with Zayn in tow, end up on the set of Whole Lotta
Loaf and, with the help of Hodgepodge’s farts and Flummox’s ability to mimic
any sound, they have to rescue the dragon egg, which is mixed up with all the
chicken eggs for the souffles.
Lili Wilkinson’s sense of fun ‘what-if’ scenarios combine beautifully
with Alex Patrick’s humorous, cartoon-like pictures to bring the adventures of
Artie, Willow, Arabella-Rose and Zayn – along with Hodgepodge and Flummox (and
eventually, Smidgen) – to life in a fast-paced story you’ll want to read in one
go.
Perfect for independent readers, aged 7–10, or a wonderful read-aloud
that can be enjoyed by parents and their younger children.
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