#blogbookaday: Maurice the Unbeastly

Summary:  “With his melodious voice, fondness for kale, and unfailing politeness, Maurice isn’t quite like other beasts. So his concerned Mama and Papa send their ridiculously photogenic beastie to the Abominable Academy for Brutish Beasts to learn how to behave badly. Will Maurice master growling, scowling, snarling, and howling? Or will he prove that being different is a good thing after all?” (Taken from Goodreads)

Review: Not an uncommon storyline in today’s picture books – celebrating differences, but you can’t help but fall in love with Maurice who just isn’t like other beasts. He has a beautiful singing voice, loves to eat vegetables and is much too light on his feet to be a really great beast. But, in the end his qualities allow him to save the day from a horrible creature! I love the illustrations in tones of green and red, I loved the vocabulary with words like garguantuan, dashingly and infiltrated. Kids will get a kick out of the scary creature that Maurice befriends and I’m sure they’ll understand that they should embrace what makes them unique.

Personal Reaction: As I said above, I loved the color palette in this book – pinks and reds, yellows and greens – these colors lend themselves to the perfect colors to create brutish beasts. Each beast has its own unique look and kids will love drawing their own beasts inspired by this story. This is an adorable story that is fun to read and sends his a positive message!

Title: Maurice the Unbeastly
Author: Amy Dixon
Illustrator: Karl James Mountford
Publisher: Sterling Children’s Books
Publication Date: September 5, 2017

This is a new idea I’m trying on my blog this year that was inspired by @donalynbooks and @heisereads – to provide a brief review of a picture book every day of 2018. You’ll get a brief summary of the story, a review of the content, illustrations and theme, my personal reaction to the book and all the pertinent publication information! Enjoy!