The Well-Mannered Monster

by Marcy Brown, Dennis Haley, Tim Raglin (Illustrator)

A delightful book about manners and the value of being nice to others. The story involves a big dinner party, a girl named Pat, and her best friend Matt, who is the nicest and best-mannered monster you will ever meet.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

40 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2006

Reviews

[Hanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a perfectly acceptable book. It didn’t blow me away…but not all books have to do that. This is the first children’s book that I’ve encountered that uses a “we both read” approach. This means that on the left hand page the text is physically smaller and has more complicated words, so the adult reads that. And on the right hand page the text is physically larger and the words and sentences are shorter. This is for the child to practice their reading skills, supported and scaffolded by the adult. I thought that this was a really interesting concept.

[Villain E · Rating 3 out of 5]

No story, just examples of a large monster being polite and respectful. The "We Both Read" format, where the adult reads one page and the child reads the facing page with bigger text and simpler sentences, works.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting book because of the way it is read by parents and children. One page is read by a parent and one page is read by a child. The story was fairly basic, but I found it very fun to read the story with my son. He said that he enjoyed the story and liked the monster. This book appears to be at the higher end of their Level 1.

[Peggy Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those books designed to read together with your child. One page the adult reads and the other (easier) page is read by the child. It's a good idea and my kids liked it. The story is ok, it was the more concept that I found appealing.

[Sofia · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Well-Mannered Monster was nice to the other people and he didn't talk while other people were talking. I liked how he said thank you when their mail man, Mr. Bell, passed the butter."
--as told to mami by Sofia.

[Edward Creter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Matt the Monster is a well-mannered monster, not a scary one like you see in the movies, so this story of good manners and very good monsters is suitable, I think, for fans of Sesame street monsters. Shouldn't all monsters be nice?

[Gary Paulson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the story. The Spanish portion was fun to read and where I needed help it was great to have an English version right along side.

I have reserved a few more books in this series from my library.

[Anna Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pat has a friend called Matt, who is a monster. But he's a very well-mannered monster, very polite and helpful.
This book has left pages for the adult and right pages for the kid. With emboldened works on the left page repeated on the right, normally, the more difficult words.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A manners book couched with a monster story.

[Monique Welch · Rating 1 out of 5]

He didnt like the monster I guess.

[Veni Premnath]

My son love to read this book. Initially i used to read to him during bedtime, later he made it as a habbit to read himself!!