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Sarah grew up as the oldest of ten children and has had children following her ever since. A Hoosier English-learner teacher, then coach for five years, her hundreds of students and fellow teachers were on the receiving end of her poetry--for fun and for learning. Sarah believes that poetry sticks to the brain and cuts to the heart. And while she loves to speak to hearts all over the world with her writing, her first books are aimed at children--delighting their minds and inspiring their creativity.
Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite
The Monsterbet: The ABCs Do Not Scare Me is an educational children's picture book written by Sarah Steele and illustrated by Daniel Manduka. Some kids might find learning the alphabet rather daunting and a bit too much of a struggle, but once they've met the fantastic beasts and monsters found within the pages of this book, they'll never see those boring shapes and squiggles in quite the same way again. And, along the way, they'll find that those ABCs aren't really that scary after all.
Sarah Steele's rhyming stories are lots of fun in that somewhat gross and silly way that kids' humor works, and she uses her innate sensitivity to and knowledge of kids' humor to make each letter have its own quirky personality and sometimes pretty disgusting habits. Together with Daniel Manduka's arresting, unusual, and just-plain-brilliant monsters, Steele has contrived to create a most entertaining and original bestiary, one designed just for kids and those adults lucky enough to still maintain a bit of that goofy, silly, slapstick-style humor that enchants kids.
I consider myself to be one of those very fortunate adults and had a grand time rediscovering the alphabet. The monsters are prodigious, and the way their shapes form the alphabet is inspired and really quite clever. The only thing that caused me to pause at any time in this educational laugh fest was a fleeting sense of sadness for that little green creature everyone kept trying to eat -- but that's probably just my adult sensitivities coming out. That said, this is one of those books kids will clamor for at story time. Imagine that! And some parents may groan and say, 'Ew', while deep inside they're secretly thrilled that their kids are no longer scared of and are asking for a book on the alphabet. The Monsterbet: The ABCs Do Not Scare Me is a marvelous, clever, and funny book for kids that actually teaches them as it entertains. It's most highly recommended.
