Nelly The Monster Sitter The Squurms At

by Kes Gray, Chris Jevons (Illustrator)

Nelly isn't scared of monsters. In fact, she babysits for them. From the bestselling author of the OI FROG! and DAISY books comes this hilarious, action-packed series for fans of THE BOLDS and BARRY LOSER.'If monsters are real, how come I've never seen one?''Because they never go out.''Why don't monsters ever go out?''Because they can never get a babysitter.'Ever played hide and seek with an oozy orange Squurm, or ice-skated with a baby Thermitt? Every time Nelly rings on a new monster family's doorbell she's up for a new challenge. Come on her monster-sitting adventures in this laugh-out-loud funny second book in the NELLY THE MONSTER SITTER series. Kes Gray is one of the Independent's top ten children's authors, and winner of the Red House Children's Book Award.This story now comes with brand-new illustrations; it was previously published in a collection Grerks, Squurms & Water Greeps.

224 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2019

About the author

Kes Gray is a bestselling, multi award-winning author of more than 70 books for children. He eats Ideaflakes for breakfast, spreads silliness on his toast and lives in a place called Different. Kes was the second bestselling picture book author in 2018.

Reviews

[Tim Roast]

“The Squurms at No. 322 (Nelly the Monster Sitter)” is by the author of the “Oi! Frog” books, but whereas those books are short picture books with a lot of rhyme in them (“Oi Frog! Sit on the log!”) this one isn’t. This is a longer read (albeit I read it in slightly less than an hour) that was in fact originally published before the "Oi! Frog" books with this version being a reprint with new artwork. It brings the book to the attention of the author's new fanbase (some would say to cash-in, but not me).

"Nelly and Asti were arguing again. Not about pop music or TV programmes or the meaning of life. This time it was something far more important. This time was golden Syrup."

A nice funny opening paragraph as above is exactly the sort of intro that gets you into a book straightaway. Nelly and Asti are twin sisters and have a little rivalry that comes across well in the book. But the book is not about that. It is about Nelly who is a monster sitter. And that means that weirdness will be present. "Whatever was about to happen was bound to be totally weird - after all, she was a monster sitter and when you monster sit, weird becomes totally normal."

This time Nelly has to monster sit Slop for the Squurms at number 322. "The trouble is... because he's so bright, Slop gets SO bored SO easily. Do you think you'll be able to keep him amused while we're away?" Nelly resorts to games. "I'm Slop, champion games player of the world! Undefeated, unbeatable, unbelievably good at every single game that has ever been invented!" Will Nelly ever win?

I read the book with a smile on my face throughout. A nice, gentle and fun read.

[Amanda]

This book is actually quite funny.

[Alice English]

Such a cute (if you can call it cute) book, had me smiling throughout. Looking forwards to reading book 3