I'm Coming to Get You

by Tony Ross

After eating all the planets in outer space, a horrible monster gets a big surprise when it comes to Earth and tries to capture a little boy.

Genres: Picture Books, Fiction, Humor, Childrens, Monsters

1 pages, Paperback

Published September 30, 1987

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Tony Ross is a British illustrator and author of children's picture books. He was a student at the Liverpool School of Art and Design. Ross has had quite a few occupations, such as cartoonist, graphic designer, art director at an advertising agency, senior lecturer in art and head of the illustration course at Manchester Polytechnic.
Ross won the 1986 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis, picture books category, for Ich komm dich holen!, (I'm coming to get you! - Andersen, 1984. He was runner-up for the 1990 Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject, for Dr. Xargle's book of Earth Tiggers.

Meet the illustrator
What is your favourite animal?
A cat
What is your favourite boy’s name?
Bill
What is your favourite girl’s name?
Roxanne
What is your favourite food?
Lobster
What is your favourite music?
Irish
What is your favourite hobby?
Sailing

Reviews

[Cornelia Funke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This ist one of the most brilliant picture books ever done! Hurrah for Tony Ross!

[Belinda Vlasbaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️ - laten we zwerven als kinderzwerfboek - na het meerdere malen aan mijn kleinkinderen te hebben voorgelezen.

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's funny, beautifully written, and it's got a little message running underneath for adults as well as children aboout facing our fears, The Twist Ending had my mum & I in Stitches.

[Gabriella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Czech and English.
Love the illustrations used brings across the feelings and emotions of the characters and plot of the story.Both languages are displayed on each page of the book. Suggestions at the back of the book for other Czech and English books which may be useful for parents and teachers to suggest to children for future reading. A relatable topic for young children to understand the belief of monsters. This book could be used as a good topic starter or introducer in PSHCE or other subjects. I would recommend this book to all children as well as EAL children.

[Inés · Rating 4 out of 5]

A monster, the thrill of a looming threat and a surprising end that teaches the children/readers to be brave and face their fears. All in all, a winner.
I don't give it 5 stars because, for some reason, it hasn't quite got the attention of all my children, although the youngest one is loving it these days.

[Matthieu Wegh · Rating 3 out of 5]

?Een van de boekjes die we vroeger konden gebruiken bij het voorlezen aan onze kinderen.
🤔Dit is vooral een grappig boekje terwijl het in het begin juist angstaanjagend is...misschien niet zo handig voor het slapengaan ;-) Maar goed, zeker leuk, maar ik heb het weinig gebruikt dus.
MW29/1/25

[Dawn · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only redeeming factor was the banana people.

[Melissa Metz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed learning a bit of the past tense in my efforts to learn Portuguese.

[Rayn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deze vind ik echt wel leuk. Ook top getekend.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun story, but it had a strange ending.

[Guilherme Semionato · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5. FUN!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4sSW...

Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis, 1986.

[Danielle S-j · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m coming to get you is a very entertaining picture book with short simple sentences and colourful illustrations about a “loathsome monster” who lands on different planets and destroys them by eating everything insight and crashing and scattering things about whilst shouting, “I’m coming to get you”. However, even after eating everything insight including planets and stars, the monster is still hungry and decides to fly its spaceship to a “pretty blue planet called Earth” to get a little boy called Tommy Brown who the monster finds on his radar. However, when the monster reaches planet earth, he is surprised and in total shock that he is extremely tiny compared to Tommy Brown and in fact cannot get him or eat him like he thought he could.

I think that this is an excellent book to read to children in key stage 1 during whole class reading time. I also think that this book has a number of educational benefits to young children as they can learn about space and how it includes different planets and starts and it can also give them the opportunity to ask a range of different questions as a way of gaining a better understandings of things i.e. why didn’t the monster eat the middle of the planet? Because planets have a core that is extremely hot. I found this book extremely entertaining especially at the end when the monster was shocked at how big humans were and I believe that young children will find the ending extremely humorous and as the last page is explained through a picture instead of writing, this could give the teacher the opportunity to quiz the children about what they thought happened to determine whether they understood the concept of what had happened to the monster.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're looking for a way to introduce the concept of monsters and bedtime to a child in an unthreatening, not-too-scary way, I'm Coming to Get You! is an excellent choice. The book's monster is certainly a mean and nasty sort of monster---he scares the banana people and eats their whole planet---and Tommy, the protagonist, is certainly nervous about finding monsters in his house at bedtime. But when the monster and Tommy finally meet, the result is surprising and very, very funny. Tony Ross' energetic ink and watercolor illustrations capture the monster's fierceness and Tommy's worry perfectly, and the quick, easy text allows for a fun bedtime read aloud.

[Vivian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not for the faint-hearted... Each page builds the dramatic tension culminating in a surprise ending. Use with story time themes of "space", "fears", or "monsters". This is one of my all-time favorites to use with pre-school age children in story time.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

son loved this book when he was 7, and no matter how many times I read this it always makes me laugh.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, no!! Not the gentle banana people!!

[Megan Higginson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has simple, vibrant fun illustrations. The story is lively with a great twist at the end that is surprising.

[John]

A monsterous delight.