Nibbles: The Book Monster

Name: Nibbles: The Book Monster
Author: Emma Yarlett
ISBN: 9781848691933

by Emma Yarlett

Ages 3–6 Reading age 5 Picture book Set in somewhere magical funnysilly

Nibbles escapes his own book by eating through the pages, and turns up in the middle of three fairy tales chewing holes in all of them.

A story about magical creatures, funny and silly in tone. We would put it with children of 3–6, and at a reading age of about 5 for reading alone.

Nothing flagged

We have not flagged any content in this one that a parent would usually want warning about.

Part of a series

This is book 1 of the Nibbles series, so there is more to read if it goes down well — which is worth a great deal with a reluctant reader.

Our take on this book

Nibbles is a small yellow monster who eats his way out of his own book and goes rampaging through others — chewing holes clean through the pages, gatecrashing fairy tales, leaving a trail of nibbled gaps — while the reader is urged to catch him before he does more damage. Emma Yarlett's picture book is a gloriously interactive object: real die-cut holes where Nibbles has bitten, flaps, and layered pages that let a child chase the little monster through the book with their fingers. The fun is entirely in the mischief and the clever design, with nothing remotely frightening about the toothy but adorable Nibbles. For a three- to six-year-old it is a joy to handle as much as to read — the holes and flaps make it a favourite for small hands, and the idea of a creature eating through the very book you're holding delights children endlessly. A brilliantly inventive read-aloud that makes the physical book part of the joke.