Milo's Monster

by Tom Percival

From the creator of Ruby Finds a Worry, a story about what to do when jealousy comes between friends.

Milo loves spending time with his best friend, Jay. But when a new girl named Suzi moves in next door, Milo starts to feel left out. The jealous feeling gets stronger and stronger--until suddenly, a GREEN-EYED MONSTER pops up beside him! Soon, the monster is twisting up all of Milo's thoughts and making him sad. It won't leave him alone!

Can Milo find a way to free himself from the monster and repair his friendship?

Warm and uplifting, Milo's Monster is an ideal starting point for helping children to build strong friendships and say goodbye to jealous feelings.

The Big Bright Feelings picture book series provides kid-friendly entry points into emotional intelligence topics -- from being true to yourself to dealing with worries, managing anger, and making friends. These topics can be difficult to talk about. But these books act as sensitive and reassuring springboards for conversations about mental and emotional health, positive self-image, building self-confidence, and managing feelings.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Friendship, Emotion, Fantasy, Storytime, Mental Health

32 pages, Hardcover

Published February 7, 2023

About the author

Tom Percival writes and illustrates picture books (you know, for kids) as well as illustrating books written by other people. The most well known of these is probably the excellent Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy.

He grew up in a remote and beautiful part of South Shropshire. On reflection this seemed rather more remote than beautiful, owing to the fact that he lived in a small caravan without electricity, mains water or any sensible form of heating. He thinks that he’s probably one of the few people in his peer group to have learnt to read by gas lamp.
Surprisingly enough he has never been called ‘hippy’ (to the best of his knowledge)

Tom now lives in an actual house with his girlfriend and their two young sons.
His favourite colour is turquoise and his favourite number is usually seven.

Tom has three picture books available, Tobias and the Super Spooky Ghost Book, A Home for Mr Tipps, Jack's AMAZING Shadow and a fourth, Herman's Letter will be publishing in October 2012 through Bloomsbury

Reviews

[books.bintulu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sept 2023: Milo's Monster

Milo has a best friend, Jay who lives next door. They enjoy spending time together until one day Suzi moves to their neighbourhood.

Soon, Milo found that Jay has been spending time with Suzi, without him! A funny feeling starts to squirm inside Milo and out of nowhere pops up a Green-Eyed Monster!

The Green-Eyed Monster always makes Milo feel bad and hissing hatred toward Milo especially when he sees Jay and Suzi playing together. It was a difficult phase in Milo's life and his world became gloomy.

Until one day, Suzi met Milo and told him that Jay was missing him. With all his might, Milo gets rid of the Green-Eyed Monster and life becomes exciting again!

💚💚💚

What an interesting story! I love how jealousy is pictured as a Green-Eyed Monster one must fight within. Dealing with my girls at home jealousy is unavoidable! I get to remind them to crush the monster and apologize no matter how hard it is.

I love the transition of the illustration where the Monster appeared and suddenly Milo's world seems in black and white. It enhances the storylines. A genius job by author and illustrator Tom Percival!

Thank you #pansing @definitelybookskids for this awesome copy. This book is available at all good bookstores.

[Maki]

Great story about jealousy and how to deal with it.

[Mehsi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gelezen in het Nederlands. Dit was een best leuk boek over jaloers zijn en vriendschap. Ik moet zeggen dat ik Milan ook snapte. Ik bedoel, ik zou het ook niet leuk hebben gevonden als mijn beste vriend steeds niet er is maar met iemand anders speelt. Goed, Milan krijgt een echt monstertje, natuurlijk groen en natuurlijk jaloers, die hem alles toespeelt en fluistert. Ik vond het verdrietig dat hij totaal niets anders meer zag en ik was aan het hopen dat Milan zijn monstertje zou kunnen verslaan. Al vond ik aan het einde dat het vriendje van Milan ook best sorry had mogen zeggen. Want leuk dat je een nieuw iemand hebt ontmoet, maar dat je dan steeds bij diegene bent? Dan kun je toch ook snappen dat je vriend dat minder leuk vindt? Natuurlijk goed dat hij uiteindelijk wel probeerde Milan te betrekken, maar tja, iets te laat?
Leuke illustraties!

[IngeT (inge1970reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dutch version : Milan Monster
#hetgroenemonster

Een erg leuk boek wat goed te gebruiken is bij je leerlingen of je kind op #sociaalemotioneel gebied om te praten over #vriendschap en #jaloezie.

De kleuren alleen al spatten van de cover en de illustraties zijn te gek. Erg mooi.

In iedere relatie kunnen jaloerse gevoelens omhoog komen. Zo ook bij Milan en zijn vriend Daniel.
Het groene monster komt tevoorschijn en laat Milan allerlei negatieve gevoelens ervaren. Gelukkig leert hij deze te overwinnen met een beetje hulp vanuit een onverwachte hoek.

Ik ben erg benieuwd hoe dit boek gaat aanslaan bij de leerlingen.

Bedankt Uitgeverij Pelckmans

[Jared White · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice story about working through jealousy and coming out the other side still being friends. This could be good to read to an elementary school student or for an elementary school storytime because it may help some kids identify what they're feeling or help them realize what a friend may be feeling.

It does oversimplify things a little bit because the assumption is made that the old best friend still wants to be best friends even once they make a new friend, which is sadly not always the case. But, hopefully, that is the exception to the rule rather than the rule (at least until middle school, when it seems all bets are off).

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A common problem is addressed as Milo becomes jealous when his friend, Jay, starts playing with the new girl in the neighborhood. The green-eyed monster begins to follow Milo around making negative comments. Finally, Milo starts avoiding Jay and Ruby altogether and all he has for company is “the miserable mutterings of the green-eyed monster.” But then one day, Ruby confronts Milo and Milo realizes that the green-eyed monster has been lying to him.

Another solid addition in this series.

[Danielle Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great story to introduce kids to the feeling of jealousy, and how to deal with it. There is an author note at the end giving even one advice and resources on how to help kids deal with their feelings, including 1) walking away and getting some good rest before tackling it and 2) talking to their parents or other trusted adult.
I am looking forward to reading the rest in this emotions collection by Tom Percival and potentially adding them to my school library.

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an excellent, kid-friendly portrayal of jealousy! Personifying the boy’s complex feelings in the form of the green-eyed monster allows kids to recognize its “miserable mutterings” and make the conscious choice to feel and act differently—and apologize for jealous behaviors, if necessary. Engaging illustrations show how rewarding it is to work through difficult emotions. Endnotes include suggestions for navigating jealous feelings in skillful ways.

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Milo's Monster' is a big, bright feelings book written and illustrated by Tom Percival. Milo and Jay are best friends. When neighbour, Suzi, moves in, Milo begins to have a 'squirmy feeling' in his tummy. A great story to share with KS1 children to introduce topics surrounding friendships and managing emotions.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic example of jealousy in friendships during childhood. The ending and explanation of the green-eyed monster going away though seemed a little too easy. This one was not as good as the others in the series, even though I still love the illustrations as much as the others in this series and the thoughtful concepts explained in a way that children 3-6 can understand well.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Friends wanting to be friends with other kids as well was a toughie for me when I was little and my kids also struggled with it a bit. This is another great title in the series and the author's note in the back is also helpful.

[Kelly]

I mostly loved this book. I thought one part went really fast, getting rid of the monster, but in 32 pages, it was really good. I loved how it explained and showed jealousy. I don't have that much insight into feelings to turn it into an explanation for kids like this. I was impressed.

[LS Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book does a good job presenting the idea of jealousy, its affects and how to deal with it. But it also presents the idea of navigating a friendship with 3 children. This is a hard topic for some and far too few picture books exist about the topic.

[Zan Porter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Milo loves spending time with his best friend Jay, but when new girl Suzi moves in next door, Milo starts to feel left out, and as his jealousy grows more intense a green-eyed monster pops up beside him, twisting up all of Milo's thoughts and making him feel sad.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lesson about jealousy. Milo has a best friend, but when a new girl moves in and his best friend starts having fun sometimes without Milo, Milo lets jealousy creep into his heart and start to wear away at his friendship. I liked the resolution. The pictures were good, too.

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an awesome book to help teach young children about friendship, making new friends, jealousy, and communication. This is a perfect circle-time book for K-2 students, as well as a great at-home read. Another great read about emotions from Tom Percival.

[Sarah Threlkeld · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another highly engaging and relatable SEL book in the series.

[Veronica Manthei · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about friendship, jealousy, and sharing of one's self

[Laura Hook · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how this series helps kids explore and make sense of different big feelings they are having. This one is so well done. Kids will relate, and I love the Author's Note at the end to readers.

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

On moving up the emotional scale to a better feeling place. Effectively written and illustrated.

[Shani · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction to envy with animated illustrations to capture the many emotions involved!

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story about jealousy. Bright and colorful illustrations.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a cute little book about jealousy and how it harms you!

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice book for SEL. It's about jealousy and that's probably not talked about enough with kids.

[Stacey Bookerworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent series

[Y.Poston]

delightful exploration of jealousy

[wildct2003 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good story

[Robert Pereira · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son loved this book

[Mo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute book about jealousy. I especially like the endnote with practical tips.

[McKenna R · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5. Solid depiction of jealousy and how it can affect friendship.