Dov'è il mio mostro?

That's Not My...

by Fiona Watt

This delightful series of board books is aimed at the very young child. The bright pictures, with their patches of different textures, are designed to develop sensory and language awareness. Babies and toddlers will love turning the pages and touching the touchy-feely patches.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Monsters, Fiction, Halloween, Kids

10 pages, Board Book

First published December 1, 2004

About the author

Fiona Watt is an Editorial Director and writer at Usborne Publishing. She started working at Usborne in 1989 and has written and edited hundreds of books including baby and novelty, sticker, art and craft, cookery, science and activity books.
Fiona graduated from Exeter University with a B.Ed. (Hons.), specialising in Psychology and Art and Design. After university she worked as a researcher and writer for a company which published educational material for places where children went on school visits (zoos, museums, stately homes etc). She then taught seven, eight, and nine year olds for five years; three years at a state school in Sevenoaks in Kent, and two years at The British School in the Netherlands in The Hague.

Having joined Usborne in 1989, Fiona became an editorial director in 2003, largely responsible for writing baby and novelty books, as well as art and activity titles. She has written over 100 titles for Usborne Publishing, perhaps most notably the, ‘That’s not my ….‘ touchy-feely series.

Reviews

[Derek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fiona Watt's That's Not My Monster is just hackneyed retread of her earlier(?) work That's Not My Pony. I'm going to put as much effort into this review as the author did into this book:

That's Not My Pony Monster by Fiona Watt is one in a series of so-called "Touchy-Feely Board Books." The story, as far as I can tell, involves a small white mouse who, for reasons unstated, is searching for his pony monster. The tale picks up in medias res, as he encounters various ponies monsters, none of which are his. These ponies monsters have various traits by which the mouse concludes that the pony monster is not his (e.g., mane is too fluffy, saddle is too soft, etc.). The fact that the ponies monsters bear no resemblance to each other, are different colors and sizes, etc., does not occur to the mouse. The mouse eventually finds the pony monster.

This book was okay, I guess. I think the selling point is the different materials that you get to touch as you read. If you are a toddler, this presumably will enhance the narrative and perhaps allow you to associate the different sensory experiences with the descriptive words in the text. The story was severely lacking. The mouse's character arc just felt incomplete. How does a mouse own a pony monster? What does he need it for? How did he lose it? He learns nothing, and nothing convinces me that, now that he has found his pony, he will not just immediately lose it again.

It's an interesting experiment with what one can accomplish through the physical medium of the book, but the story itself just feels half-heartedly pasted on.

Whatever.

[Baby Goode · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute touch-and-feel book about monsters

[Mk · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very cute book.
I liked the vibrant colours and the different sensory stimuli.
I believe that it would excite a young child.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of Dude's favourite books, before we properly discovered Thomas. Good fun, the touchy-feely makes it ideal to read and look at and he loved it. As I loved monsters, so did I!

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

We just love this series! We never, ever, get tired of reading it again and again!

In each book the little white mouse is looking for his doggy, reindeer, dinosaur, monkey, bunny, train or lion that seems to be always lost. But before finding it he has to pass for many wrong ones, maybe because its paws are too soft, or its ears too velvety, or the tail too hairy. And you can actually touch them to check they really are! The text is easy and repetitive, so the kids quickly are able to "read" it, and its full of tasty words like bumpy, squashy and fluffy, that are always funny for them to say.

A cute, cute, cute series for toddlers.


Check out more children's book reviews in my Reviews in Chalk Blog!

[Katherine Cowley · Rating 4 out of 5]

That's Not My Monster is the best textured toddler book that I have found so far. Because honestly, most "textured" books have pretty boring textures. This one has really original, fun textures that my daughter enjoys even after multiple readings. The monster illustrations are clever and fun. Now when my daughter hears the word "monsters" she crawls over to the book and starts reading it.

[Siobhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wonderful read from my childhood, one I’d certainly suggest for other youngsters. Whilst it is not my all-time favourite childhood read I can still recall all the details of this one meaning it certainly left a lasting impression upon my young mind.

And isn’t that what we want with children’s books, for them to leave a positive lasting impression?

[Julia Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another super fun hand-me-down from our friend Liz, this very short one features a tiny mouse trying to track down her pet monster, searching high and low and even donning a snorkel mask to look under the sea. Each page has a big ol' monster with a fun-to-touch textural element like soft, very fluffy ears or a bumpy, rough pair of paws.

This book is one in a "That's Not My..." series and you probably can't go wrong giving one as a gift to a small human in your life.

[Alyce Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The bright colours make this a favourite with my little one, but it's a bit disappointing that some of the same textures are used multiple times. That being said, we've already read it more times than I can count and she keeps passing it back to us, so I think she would definitely be giving this 5 stars!

[Shengying · Rating 3 out of 5]

The books in the "That's not my..." series can be an interesting read for young babies as they cover a variety of subjects and offer a sensory experience with colourful, cute illustrations and some touch-and-feel features. A common downside of the series is that the descriptions and textures become overly general and repetitive, and the story's logic only works for some subjects. For a Halloween read, the touch-and-feel mechanism works better in the book, That's not my pumpkin..., i.e., it makes more sense to touch pumpkins, not monsters.

[Arthur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't like this one as much as others in the series. The textures seem to be really repetitive just described differently. The colours didn't grab babies attention as much as others in the series.

[Suzanne Lorraine Kunz Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

What little child doesn't secretly worry about monsters? This book helps bring them down to a friendlier level. An incredibly quick and easy read for beginning readers.

[Saoirse M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. I’ve read it with Mummy and Daddy sooooo many times. But the red monster is terrifying.

[Reyn Van · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like this book. Enjoy paging through and looking at the bold colourful monsters. Favourite of the that's not my series. Not too interested in touching the textures yet. (7months old)

[The Campbell Family · Rating 5 out of 5]

Linden and Bud loved this.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very popular with the 12 month old

[Freddie D · Rating 4 out of 5]

The monster with the pink fluffy eyebrows is a real highlight for me.

[Wild World · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's so cute. My babe isn't afraid of monsters anymore!

[Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my one year olds favorite books! The textures draw his attention into The book.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The unseen narrator of this touch-and-feel board book looks at a series monsters in search of his/her own personal monster.

[Lex Redding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the cutest monsters you'll ever see. Perfect for my little monster.

[Nat · Rating 5 out of 5]

None of them are MY monsters but all of them are cute monsters

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great series. We have read hundreds of times with our grandkids. The touchy feely aspect adds to the experience.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute as always!

[Marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was my favourite book as a child due to all the textures, but there’s not much of a story. Of course that’s to be expected, I read it more as a baby than a child

[Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baraboo Library in WI

[R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've heard a lot about this series, so I was excited when we found this gem for under $5 at the local resale. The textures are different enough, and highlighted with the simple text story, that both my 19-month-old and 4.5-year-old enjoyed reading it. My daughter has especially had lots of concerns about "monsters" lately, so this was good to add to our library even though it's "baby brother's book" and he didn't want to let go of it this afternoon. Fun story with what might otherwise be considered a scary theme for small children.

[Roonmayan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book

[Kate Hendrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations are great, and the textures are awesome. This book has a great variety of textures and makes for a fun tactile experience for little ones.

Like many children's books, the story itself isn't great. It doesn't really make sense (why are we talking about eyebrows and horns if the monster in question possesses neither), but the repeating pattern of the story is good for children.

Overall, my daughter (1 year old) enjoys it, and as a parent, I don't mind reading it.

[Megan]

This is a great book for early childhood development. Since this is one of the most important developing periods in a persons life, and books like That's Not My Monster, is the perfect tool for children at that young of an age. It allows them to start to developing those sensorimotor skills that are so essential to children at that age. When I am a parent, I will use this book with my own children in order to help them to cognitively develop at the best level they can.

I recommend this book for children at the ages of 1 to 4 years old