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Monster and Chips #1
Monster and Chips
Meet the strange customers and sample the foul-food served up at Fuzzby’s monster diner – the brilliant setting for this humorous story from debut author and illustrator, David O’Connell. Highly illustrated in full-colour.
Bright, bold colours bring these fantastic monsters to life!
Somewhere in suburbia, or maybe smack-bang in the middle of your city, there is a very special diner. What’s so special about it? Well it does the best chips ANYWHERE but also its customers are a little bit ‘unusual’… some people say they are monsters… The diner is hard to find, you have to look carefully, in fact some people say only a special kind of kid can find this special kind of diner. But maybe that kid could be you?
When Joe the ‘hooman’ gets a job at Fuzzby’s diner, he learns to bake zombie-cupcakes, exploding milkshakes and not to stare at the customers – even the ones who are see-through. He also foils a terrible plan to sabotage the annual Grand Cooking Competition.
With a Special’s Board that’ll make your tummy churn, take a seat at Fuzzby’s and join the fun.
- GenresFantasy
192 pages, Paperback
First published February 28, 2013
3 people are currently reading
26 people want to read
About the author
David O'Connell
28 books19 followersDavid O’Connell is a writer and illustrator living in Brighton on the south coast of England. He works mostly in children’s books, particularly humorous picture books and young fiction. His best known books are The Naughtiest Unicorn series, the best-selling How to Grow Up and Feel Amazing (both as illustrator) and The Chocolate Factory Ghost (as writer).
Although he wrote and drew his own stories from a young age, he studied science at A-level, then gained a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Bristol. After a period of work, he returned to academic life, working towards a PhD in Clinical Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge. This was followed by a managerial role in the IT department of the John Lewis Partnership.
His desire to write and draw professionally stayed with him, and to that end he signed with United Agents in 2008, thanks to the recommendation of his friend Sarah McIntyre with whom he collaborated on the picture book, Jampires. They also worked together on a Picture Book Writing & Illustrating course, available from Curtis Brown Creative.
His first published book was Monster & Chips, the start of a series of funny (and revolting) adventures of ‘hooman’ Joe Shoe whilst working at the Monster Diner of friendly monster Fuzzby Bixington.
He has since illustrated a number of fiction and non-fiction book series for a variety of publishers, as well as writing his own children’s fiction books and picture books.
Although he wrote and drew his own stories from a young age, he studied science at A-level, then gained a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Bristol. After a period of work, he returned to academic life, working towards a PhD in Clinical Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge. This was followed by a managerial role in the IT department of the John Lewis Partnership.
His desire to write and draw professionally stayed with him, and to that end he signed with United Agents in 2008, thanks to the recommendation of his friend Sarah McIntyre with whom he collaborated on the picture book, Jampires. They also worked together on a Picture Book Writing & Illustrating course, available from Curtis Brown Creative.
His first published book was Monster & Chips, the start of a series of funny (and revolting) adventures of ‘hooman’ Joe Shoe whilst working at the Monster Diner of friendly monster Fuzzby Bixington.
He has since illustrated a number of fiction and non-fiction book series for a variety of publishers, as well as writing his own children’s fiction books and picture books.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 4, 2015
Bum toots galore! Joe doesn't realise his life will change when he escapes down an alley from bully Grotty Grace. He steps inside FUZZBY'S - a fish and chip shop he's never seen before and is suddenly in a world of monsters, strange menus and even a cooking show - Monster Chef.
I love the production of this book - bright, easy to read with fantastic illustrations and hilarious names for monsters and their culinary delights. Especially excellent for boys 7+
I love the production of this book - bright, easy to read with fantastic illustrations and hilarious names for monsters and their culinary delights. Especially excellent for boys 7+
June 9, 2017
I read this book in Dutch, but I will write a review in English. So I will be using the names as they are in Dutch.
So yes, I was saying I had this one reserved/on-hold at one of my libraries (Library #2), but when I had time and was near Library #1 I decided to take this one with me (I would have also taken book 3, but sadly I can only have 2 books at Library #1).
This time I knew that the chapters equal stories and thus I was prepared, unlike with the book I read before this one (book #2 in this series).
In this one Joep meets Fuzzby Joekelmans. We see how he managed to find that door, and why he was even in that alley (Vicky). It was fun to see how Fuzzby immediately thought Joep was there for an interview and that Joep thought it was OK. The interview questions had me laughing though, and it was even more fun when Joep had one question right (sometimes you just have got to think disgusting to get things right).
His first day at work was pretty hilarious, especially him trying to make some sense in the food department but failing hard because he never heard of all of the ingredients (and also didn't even want to touch them). But he did his best, and I was pretty amazed at how hard he worked and how eager and happy he was.
Plus we see the customers reactions to Joep. Something that also happens in the second book when there are new monsters, but by then at least the regular guys are used to this strange human being in their midst.
I liked that we saw a bit more of the snack bar (including some photographs of other customers).
Ah, so we see the scene that was referenced in the second book. The scene with the spider. It was quite surprising that the monsters were that afraid of this tiny thing (though I don't blame them, urgh spiders).
And we meet with Twijgje (who was a surprise guest for me in the previous book). It was quite fun to see her introduced, and to see that she has gotten a bit nicer (and less pushy) in the second book.
The day menus are still disgusting, and with my still not happy stomach, I tended to just not read them, or just glance over them.
My favourite story? The one with the zombie cupcakes. Zombie powder, not so good to use on cupcakes it seems. :P
Of course the book is filled with comics, illustrations, and the small illustrations featuring family Slurp giving their opinions on parts of the story.
All in all, highly recommended, and I hope that the 3rd book (which I still have on-hold/reserved) will get in soon. Maybe after that I will buy them all in English (since they are just sooooo good and funny).
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
So yes, I was saying I had this one reserved/on-hold at one of my libraries (Library #2), but when I had time and was near Library #1 I decided to take this one with me (I would have also taken book 3, but sadly I can only have 2 books at Library #1).
This time I knew that the chapters equal stories and thus I was prepared, unlike with the book I read before this one (book #2 in this series).
In this one Joep meets Fuzzby Joekelmans. We see how he managed to find that door, and why he was even in that alley (Vicky). It was fun to see how Fuzzby immediately thought Joep was there for an interview and that Joep thought it was OK. The interview questions had me laughing though, and it was even more fun when Joep had one question right (sometimes you just have got to think disgusting to get things right).
His first day at work was pretty hilarious, especially him trying to make some sense in the food department but failing hard because he never heard of all of the ingredients (and also didn't even want to touch them). But he did his best, and I was pretty amazed at how hard he worked and how eager and happy he was.
Plus we see the customers reactions to Joep. Something that also happens in the second book when there are new monsters, but by then at least the regular guys are used to this strange human being in their midst.
I liked that we saw a bit more of the snack bar (including some photographs of other customers).
Ah, so we see the scene that was referenced in the second book. The scene with the spider. It was quite surprising that the monsters were that afraid of this tiny thing (though I don't blame them, urgh spiders).
And we meet with Twijgje (who was a surprise guest for me in the previous book). It was quite fun to see her introduced, and to see that she has gotten a bit nicer (and less pushy) in the second book.
The day menus are still disgusting, and with my still not happy stomach, I tended to just not read them, or just glance over them.
My favourite story? The one with the zombie cupcakes. Zombie powder, not so good to use on cupcakes it seems. :P
Of course the book is filled with comics, illustrations, and the small illustrations featuring family Slurp giving their opinions on parts of the story.
All in all, highly recommended, and I hope that the 3rd book (which I still have on-hold/reserved) will get in soon. Maybe after that I will buy them all in English (since they are just sooooo good and funny).
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
December 22, 2020
There are some genuinely hilarious (in a disgusting, mouldy related sort of way) moments within this book which children will certainly love, but the narrative is a mess and I really struggled to convince a 7 year old to persist with this book.
The story centres around a monster diner (literally run by a monster, but not a nasty one!), and a human (hoo-man) boy who goes to work there for the monster in order to get his mum some chips! One thing leads to another, more monsters continue to grace us with their presence, and a baking competition akin to Great British Bake-off (but really more Masterchef) ensues which occupies all the monsters for a time.
I think it's just silly; I know children's literature quite often contains a silly element but this was just difficult to persist with because it jumped all over the place and was nonsensical at times. The illustrations somewhat save the day, as the do the hilarious daily specials menus, but something is definitely missing with this one.
The story centres around a monster diner (literally run by a monster, but not a nasty one!), and a human (hoo-man) boy who goes to work there for the monster in order to get his mum some chips! One thing leads to another, more monsters continue to grace us with their presence, and a baking competition akin to Great British Bake-off (but really more Masterchef) ensues which occupies all the monsters for a time.
I think it's just silly; I know children's literature quite often contains a silly element but this was just difficult to persist with because it jumped all over the place and was nonsensical at times. The illustrations somewhat save the day, as the do the hilarious daily specials menus, but something is definitely missing with this one.
July 27, 2021
Boek met weinig diepgang. Leest makkelijk weg, maar hoofdpersonen worden niet echt uitgediept. Speelt zich af in een wereld waar je lekker veel fantasie kunt gebruiken. Wel redelijk nieuwsgierig naar andere delen.
July 1, 2021
I liked this book because the cupcake had lots of eyes and he could only walk in circles. It was funny and the pictures are really good.
February 29, 2024
Fav childhood book through and through.
August 1, 2024
With h
July 30, 2025
This is the first chapter book my 6-year old son ever read by himself. He loved it.
January 19, 2021
Een grappig en leuk boek ik ben niet bang meer voor monsters 🤪
January 23, 2013
Somewhere in suburbia, or maybe smack-bang in the middle of your city, there is a very special diner. What’s so special about it? Well it does the best chips ANYWHERE but also its customers are a little bit ‘unusual’… some people say they are monsters… The diner is hard to find, you have to look carefully, in fact some people say only a special kind of kid can find this special kind of diner. But maybe that kid could be you?
When Joe the ‘hooman’ gets a job at Fuzzby’s diner, he learns to bake zombie-cupcakes, exploding milkshakes and not to stare at the customers – even the ones who are see-through. He also foils a terrible plan to sabotage the annual Grand Cooking Competition.
All you need to brighten up your day is a little yellow book with a green monster on the cover and a little boy proudly holding up a plate of chips. You just know that when you turn to the very first page that everything is going to be fine and dandy.
This is the first of a three book series which David has both written and illustrated. As soon as I started to read and interact with all of the cartoon-like illustrations, I was hooked. A small smile began to creep across my face. By the end of the book, it was a huge grin!
This is a great read for both the young and old. It's a chuckle a minute read that delves into the crazy and wacky tale of the Monster Diner. It's full of gastronomic delights for you to rustle up in your kitchen to feed your pet monster. However, the core of the story leaves you with a warm fuzzy glow.
Fuzzyby, the chef, of the Monster Diner is a large as life character. He's the monsters answer to Jamie Oliver for sure. Although, hopefully, you won't find any of his recipes at your child's school as they definitely wouldn't be impressed!
This book serves up a great dollop of imagination and some great sketches too. This is a very enjoyable read - I'm sure that you will all agree. Roll on the next one please. Hmmm . . . time for a portion of chips I think!
When Joe the ‘hooman’ gets a job at Fuzzby’s diner, he learns to bake zombie-cupcakes, exploding milkshakes and not to stare at the customers – even the ones who are see-through. He also foils a terrible plan to sabotage the annual Grand Cooking Competition.
All you need to brighten up your day is a little yellow book with a green monster on the cover and a little boy proudly holding up a plate of chips. You just know that when you turn to the very first page that everything is going to be fine and dandy.
This is the first of a three book series which David has both written and illustrated. As soon as I started to read and interact with all of the cartoon-like illustrations, I was hooked. A small smile began to creep across my face. By the end of the book, it was a huge grin!
This is a great read for both the young and old. It's a chuckle a minute read that delves into the crazy and wacky tale of the Monster Diner. It's full of gastronomic delights for you to rustle up in your kitchen to feed your pet monster. However, the core of the story leaves you with a warm fuzzy glow.
Fuzzyby, the chef, of the Monster Diner is a large as life character. He's the monsters answer to Jamie Oliver for sure. Although, hopefully, you won't find any of his recipes at your child's school as they definitely wouldn't be impressed!
This book serves up a great dollop of imagination and some great sketches too. This is a very enjoyable read - I'm sure that you will all agree. Roll on the next one please. Hmmm . . . time for a portion of chips I think!
March 9, 2013
Joe accidentally stumbles into a very strange cafe (not many hoomans can find it) and soon finds himself with a part-time job serving up bizarre dishes to monstrous clients. Though Fuzzby's is also known to serve the best chips ever too.
The ingredients and recipes are lovingly described in all their gross glory, while the monsters are many and varied. All tied together with amusing illustrations by writer and artist David O'Connell. There are also little side stories happening in the illustrations, especially those involving the Guzzelins.
I now can't get the phrase bum-toot out of my head!
The ingredients and recipes are lovingly described in all their gross glory, while the monsters are many and varied. All tied together with amusing illustrations by writer and artist David O'Connell. There are also little side stories happening in the illustrations, especially those involving the Guzzelins.
I now can't get the phrase bum-toot out of my head!
June 8, 2014
This book was about a boy that was buying chips and there was this mean girl outside the shop and she ran down the ally and she was by this door that says there are the best chips in the world. Not everyone could see the door and there was this cat like an octopus and it had three eyes and it scared the girl and she shot up in the air. The boy then went home.
September 1, 2014
I really like books like these, simple and quick with great drawings inside. I liked this book and the second was even better.
March 2, 2015
A young boy gets a job in a café for monsters.
I found the story a bit patchy, the illustrations good – overall a decent read.
I found the story a bit patchy, the illustrations good – overall a decent read.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews