What's That Terrible Growl?

by A.H. Benjamin

A sweet, creative rendering of a young child’s imagination. ~Booklist GRRRRRRRRRR!! What is that noise? Is it a hungry, ferocious lion from the savannah? Or a fire-breathing dragon from a far-off land? Mysterious noises haunt this little boy. With every passing page, the anticipation will what’s the cause of this big GROWL? A lion? A mean, ugly ogre? A ten-eyed creature from outer space? Or perhaps something else, something… unexpected? Stay for the final surprise in this intriguing tale for the smallest ones of the house by A.H. Benjamin and Merel Eyckerman.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Dinosaurs, Storytime, Humor, Fiction, Childrens

24 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2019

About the author

A H Benjamin has been a children's writer since the mid-eighties. He has been published by Andersen Press, O.U.P, Little Tiger Press, Franklin Watts, Q.E.D and many other big publishing houses. He has written 34 books which have sold worldwide with 22 translations including Chinese, Korean, Turkish, Greek and Arabic. His books are very popular in schools and libraries. He currently ranks 345 in the UK PLR. Also some of his work has been adapted for radio, television and theatre.

He lives in Lincolnshire with his wife, Trisha. They have four grown up children and four young grandchildren who have all been an inspiration to him.

(Sources: Amazon.com author page, Little Tiger Press author page, Hachette Children's Group author page.)

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau]

What is that sound? I could tell you - but you will have more fun reading the book! This book was a big hit with the young son of a friend of mine, the fact that you can do sound effects as you read the book really adds to the interactive nature of this book. A great 'read back' book that small children will enjoy!

[Margo Tanenbaum]

This is a fun storytime book with cute illustrations easy to see for a crowd, and a surprise ending. Good for participation with lots of chances for growling.

[Rose Rosetree]

Right off the bat, this book made me laugh. Since I read the dedication by artist Merel Eyckerman:

To my mama and papa who always interpreted
my growling in such a nice way.

Suspenseful though this book must be to its intended audience, very young children... I am having a ball reading this picture book.

First, I'm thrilled at the artwork by Merel Eyckerman, who can clearly do more than growl.

Second, how the fonts are typset, they have the impact of calligraphy -- highly expressive calligraphy. Wait until you see this book, Goodreaders!

WHAT'S THAT TERRIBLE GROWL?

This question repeats, over and over, on most of the two-page spreads.

Instead of being scary, the various answers supplied are funny. For me, this book conveys so much comfort, such a sense of security.

FIVE STARS, DEFINITELY

Gently funny answers to that repeated question... continue... all the way through to the end (which I will not spoil for you, no no!)

WHAT'S THAT WONDERFUL PICTURE BOOK?

I have an answer for that now, thanks to you, A.H. Benjamin.

[Barbara]

Frightening sounds fill the house as a little boy tries to remain brave and not hide from whatever scary thing is making those sounds. He imagines that the growl is emitted by some sort of a fierce animal. Maybe a bear or even a dragon. But as it turns out, the sounds aren't actually a growl at all Who knew that his baby sister, Ruby, wanted her stuffed dinosaur toy? The colorful images are filled with scenes from the older sibling's imagination, and young readers will smile once they realize what's been going on.

[Terresa Wellborn]

This is a story of a young boy who's wondering (very creatively) who or what is making so much noise? Would be easy to shorten for a younger crowd, and the ending is sweet and silly.

Themes: animals, humor, family/baby sisters
Ages: preK-2nd grade
Pub year: 2019

[Edward Sullivan]

Frightening sounds make little boy's imagination run wild.

[Lindsey]

Great story for storytime. I loved the illustrations!

[Alyssa Mandell]

Wasn't my favorite.

[Syntha Green]

It was cute but seemed to take a little while to get to the end

[Brittany]

Well, we were not expecting what the growl turned out to be. It was just an awkward read for us. It didn't seem to have a good flow.

[Sarah]

good 3-5 year old read aloud, especially relevant if listeners have younger sibs.

[Jennifer]

A cute story of imagination that also feels a bit disjointed.

[Miss Sarah]

A preschool and up book about a child hearing lots of animal noises but what could those noises be? Cute twist ending

[Clarissa]

Cute, and a read aloud that lets you make loud growling noises is a win in my opinion!

[Jennifer]

Picked this up to help with learning Spanish. Great exposure to new and interesting words not covered in classrooms or Duolingo, like the Spanish words for growl or foggy.

[Lauren]

Kid enjoyed it but it was annoying as the parent to read

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.