ABOUT THE BOOK
A furry red monster called Ruffleclaw moves in with a family of humans after he tires of eating bugs and living under the tool-shed. Ruffleclaw is messy, spits, drinks shampoo and eats the plates along with the food! Will Tommy be able to teach Ruffleclaw to behave and maybe even keep him as a pet?SNAPSHOT REVIEW
- A Monster Tale, part of Harper-Collins’ newly launched M series that focusses on mysteries, magic and monsters, is a funny tale of friendship and acceptance.
- Ruffleclaw is a messy, greedy, uncouth and incredibly self-centred monster, who moves into Tommy’s house and into his bed! Tommy reluctantly agrees to let him stay if he promises to stay out of sight of his parents. What happens when the messy monster makes himself at home in Tommy’s home forms the crux of this entertaining and enjoyable story.
- Author Cornelia Funke (and her translator!) is marvellously adept at crafting language to create the right effect. She makes use of a lot of short sentences to keep the pace going and then goes about inventing outrageously funny words to crack you up as you read. Phrases like “slimalicious bliss”, “creepy-crawladocious”, “dog-fartily cat-scratchily nasty” and “mousepoop!” are sure to elicit tons of giggles.
- There’s a fair bit of potty humour in the story, thanks to the monster’s complete lack of manners and disgusting eating habits, which is a surefire appeal for young readers. For instance, Ruffleclaw thinks dried earthworms are a crunchy snack and calls Tommy’s mother a slug!
- Funke has illustrated the book herself and the black-and-white sketches that pepper the book are simply delightful, especially those of Ruffleclaw./trx_list_item]
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