Rufus

Meet Rufus... he's got big sharp teeth, a super-stinky bottom and he's a truly splendid monster! Author and illustrator Simon Bartram, perhaps best known for his Blue Peter Award-winning The Man on the Moon: A Day in the Life of Bob starring the laugh-out-loud character Bob and his amazing extra-terrestrial dog Barry, returns with a hilarious monster story with a heartwarming twist.

Rufus is a truly splendid monster. But he doesn't feel like a Tip-Top monster. Every monster book he has read says that monsters are supposed to scare Peoply People and there aren't any of those in his desert. He has nobody to frighten so Rufus decides that there is only one thing for it. He's going to have to find a Peoply Person to scare. But all he can find is a van full of vampires, a witch on a motorbike, a ghost family on a day out with their ghost dog and lots of other weird characters. So where in the world are all the Peoply People hiding? The outrageous Rufus is going to knock mischievous young readers for six with his armpit pong, eggy bottom stink and cheesy toes! And there won't be a dry eye in the house when he finally encounters Daisy, a beautiful little Peoply Person... and gives her a monster hug. Brimming with Bartram's larger-than-life, colourful illustrations and a sense of fun that permeates every page, the adventures of lovable rogue Rufus are monstrously entertaining!

* The Lancashire Evening Post *

Rufus is a new picture book by Simon Bartram, creator of Bob, Man on the Moon, and this is another enjoyable romp with hidden messages and other-worldly creatures. 'Rufus was a truly splendid monster', we learn - but because he has no one to frighten, he doesn't feel like a 'tip top scary monster', so he sets off to put this right and to find some 'Peopley Persons' to scare; he had read about them in books.

However, While Rufus does find lots of other strange creatures, he doesn't find any 'Peopley Persons' until right at the end but fortunately, by this point, he has also learned that 'Peopley Persons' can be fun and the story ends with lots of warmth and heart.

I love the landscapes that Bartram conjures for Rufus, and all the hidden messages in the images, something Bartram is a master at - while Rufus is hunting for humans, they are closer than he thinks and children will love spotting the visual clues!

As well as helping develop their visual literacy, this book is a great starter for creating their own monster (there's a lovely 'diagram' of Rufus at the start of the book, showing what makes him such a good monster), while older children could write their own 'expert book' about what makes a human, human.

* Reading Zone *

It's lovely to welcome Simon Bartram back to the Book of the Week slot with his new creation, and there's not a Bob in sight....
Simon's "Bob" series were among the first books we really fell completely in love with on the blog, hoovering them up every time we found a new one at our local library.

Things went very quiet for a while for Simon, but he's back with a bang - or should we say a raspy farting noise? His new hero "Rufus" may be a bit on the nose, but he has a heart of gold - and his dearest wish is to be a big proper scary monster.

The problem is, life in his desert home is fairly lonely and there's hardly anyone else around to frighten. Humans are of course the most easily scared by Monsters, so Rufus sets his heart on finding one and giving his best performance of growling, snarling and being thoroughly frightening.

Rufus reads up on the best scare techniques in his favourite book, but as he searches high and low he can't see any people around, not a single one. Plenty of weird creatures, but no people!

Soon, Rufus discovers why there's no one around, and finally finds the destination of all those weird monsters he's been seeing. Could this be his best opportunity to scare someone after all?

But what Rufus discovers is that there's more to life than being scary, and in fact friendship can be pretty cool too!

We spent hours with this book, gazing in awe at all the tiny little details Simon works into his paintings (the barn party scene is wondrous!)

It's a tale with a lovely ending, fabulous art and that all-important feelgood factor you always get from Simon's stories. Sublime!

C's best bit: Spotting a cameo from a certain spaceship from Simon's other stories (good spot!)

Daddy's favourite bit: A hugely engaging central character (despite his whiff) and a great little story, destined to win over a huge army of new SB fans!

* Read it Dad