I had been intending to get a review of Dragon Jelly up before Halloween, but life got in the way somewhat – as it has a habit of doing – and actually looking back at it, although some people associate monsters and general grossness it’s also the sort of thing that appeals to children all year round.
Dragon Jelly follows on wonderfully from Claire Freedman and Sue Hendra’s last book Spider Sandwiches which Little Miss C and I reviewed last year. This time round Max is having a Monster party where he and his friends are playing all sorts of horrible games and eating some pretty hideous food. But then again the idea of a nest of worms in the middle of a pass the parcel game and cockroach crisps will certainly appeal to some children!
The grand reveal at the end of the party is the dragon jelly. It’s scary hot to eat and in fact so hot that once the monsters have all eaten it they all start to shake and hiss before smoke starts coming out of them! This however does not put them off the fiery dragons that they find in their goody bags at the end of the party.
In much the same way as in Spider Sandwiches, Dragon Jelly is written in lovely rhyming text, making it the perfect book to read out loud and share with a little one. Sue Hendra’s brilliant bright illustrations – showing the full yuckiness of what is going on – are really attention grabbing for children and after I’d finished reading it to LMC, Master C grabbed the book and insisted it was his bedtime story too.
Dragon Jelly has made a great addition to our bookshelf and it’s a perfect read for those days when the kids want something a bit yucky!
Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of Dragon Jelly for the purposes of this review. This post contains affiliate links.
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