Customer Reviews

Garbage! Monster! Burp!

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With all of the recent fixation on "green living", it is unsurprising that children's literature should start to reflect this trend, if only because the youth are the ones who will live in the world we create. The monster at the bottom of the hill makes the repercussions of our actions easier for younger minds to grasp.

The author clearly has an agenda to push as expansion and possible overpopulation drive garbage production upwards, forcing the monster to consume more and more to the point of physical illness. In spite of the undisguised environmentalist bent, however, the story is delivered in a lighthearted fashion that is appropriate for a picture book, and the use of the monster was a clever move as "Mother Earth" is a difficult concept for children to comprehend.

The illustrations are fun and colorful, and they show up well on a black-and-white device like the Kindle. Even so, some of the lines are crudely done, particularly the monster and the people. Similarly inconsistent is the quality of the writing: while most of the words flow easily and rhythmically off of the tongue, others gave me pause while reading the story aloud due to a sudden change in beat. Try as I might to compensate for these departures, I am still unable to devise a way in which to make some of these stanzas work; it is as if I am reading from a different story entirely.

As a free book, Garbage! Monster! Burp! is certainly worth a second look. Parents can appreciate the message it delivers, while children will enjoy a story in which children and their favorite monster save the day.

Some of it is a little over their heads (6 and 3) but they like it and we read it over and over. They understand enough of the story to enjoy it.

Totally cute book. Was a little young for my readers, but they still had fun reading it and giggling about the monster.

the rhyming was better though the paper cuts weren't as good as the ones in When Cows Fly
nevertheless, i still enjoyed the story. author Tom Watson sure has a way of raising social and environmental awareness among his young readers.
again, this is better read on one's PC or a compatible tablet than on the Kindle to appreciate the colorful illustrations.

This book was a good book about recycling. Also easy for children to understand the message without being bored. I don't think it will become my children's next favorite book but I can see us reading a few times.

This is a cute allegorical rhyme about a town that fed all its garbage to its monster. This arrangement worked perfectly until the town grew and the monster started getting indigestion from all the garbage it was eating.

The illustrations are whimsical (there's a good-sized on every other page), the font is large but amateurish, the rhyme should be very pleasing to little ears, but the vocabulary (e.g, "committee") may be a little tough in some places.

Little kids are often the staunchest environmentalists, and this pro-recycling, pro-activist story should go over well.

I read this with my 4 year old granddaughter and she loved it. We both loved that it had pictures! Even in black and white it was great to see pictures on the Kindle. It was a fun story that wasn't too long or too short to hold her attention. It was a good introduction to recycling without feeling preached at.

I liked that the book that was free. I wasn't wanting to spend money on a book to see if I liked the format of pictures in children's books, so this was a 'safe' way to do that.

It's not color, but then kids need to know not everything comes with glitter. I'll be looking for more of these type books to put on my Kindle. Especially if the price is better than buying the actual book. Reading is always a good thing to share. This is a nice, easy way to fill time with a young child - lots of books in the size of one!

"Garbage! Monster! Burp!", by Tom Watson, is the story of a friendly monster who eats all of the town's garbage. The town grows and the monster has to eat more and more garbage. The monster burps and clouds of burp-gas hang over the town. The monster gets bigger and sadder every day. Something has to be done! How do the kids save this town and help their burping friend?

The garbage-eating monster in this story has a problem. The town is growing and the amount of garbage is out-of-control. The adults are only interested in the town growing bigger and bigger. The kids realize that the monster needs help so they go to work. They love the monster and they do not like to see him sad and distressed. The kids decide to open a business to RECYCLE the trash. There is less trash for the monster to eat so he started feeling better and burping less. The kid's business is a huge success and everyone in town (including the monster) is happy. Oh, there was one person in town who is not happy with the kid's success...he still has a cloud of monster burp-gas hanging over his head!

I am always interested in reading children's picture books that are available on the Kindle. This book is a good fit for the Kindle. The text and the illustrations are formatted for easy viewing on the Kindle screen. If you want to view the illustrations in color, you can read the book on your Kindle for PC application.

This book is written in a lyrical rhyming text that would be fun to read individually or used as a read-aloud. The illustrations are cute and add value to the story. The best thing about this book is that it teaches children the importance of taking care of our environment and the value of recycling.

JanetteFuller.Com

I've read this to both my boys(5 and 8). After reading Stick Dog Wants a Hamburger, also by Tom Watson, I thought we'd give this a try. It was a good tale that holds their interest. While my boys weren't laughing out loud like Stick Dog they did enjoy it. Also, underlying message is nice and told in a way that is entertaining for the kids.

A cute book with adorable pictures and room for grins and giggles. Very very strong message on recycling. I'm not a huge fan of "kids are all brilliant problem solvers and adults are all stupid." type of books but ignoring that, the book communicated its author's message clearly. I liked the children's empathy for the monster. The book formatted nicely when read on Kindle for PC with two columns.