My Monster Farts

My Monster Farts by Kate Clary is a very silly book for 5 year olds about a boy who keeps getting blamed for something he didn't do.

What happens

Zach is seven. He has a pet monster called Lenny. Most people can't see Lenny or hear him, although a few kids can.

Lenny has scraggly green fur, short horns and a smile that goes from horn to horn. He loves a good joke.

He also loves to fart. Small ones, medium ones, big ones, and they all smell terrible.

So you can see the problem. When the classroom suddenly stinks there's only one person everybody can actually see sitting there. Zach gets sent to the back and misses break. Again.

It happens at home too, usually right after his little brother Billy has set him up for something else. It happens at the ice cream shop in front of a room full of strangers, while his mum walks out pretending she doesn't know him.

Zach tells you all of this himself and he's great company. He keeps stopping to check you're keeping up. Have you ever smelled a really smelly fart? Have you got a little brother who drives you crazy? (If you haven't, he says, you're one lucky kid.)

Lenny is quite lovely in his own way. He talks about himself by name. "Lenny is sorry." "Lenny loves to fart. Big, smelly farts!" Then he promises to stop, and he means it, for about four days.

Zach can never stay cross with him for long. That's the soft bit underneath all the parping.

It's five short chapters and there's nothing tricky in any of them. If your reader has only just started managing a book with chapters, this is a gentle one to hand over.

One thing to say plainly. The joke is the same joke, over and over, and it is basically the whole book. If farts don't make your child howl there isn't a lot else in here for them. Zach also gets told off unfairly every single time and never once gets to explain himself. A child who feels that sort of thing keenly might find it more irritating than funny.

It's an American book, so expect math and recess and grade three and mom. Nothing your reader can't work out, but you may get asked.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, Dirty Bertie - Worms! is the obvious next stop. Bertie is another small boy permanently in trouble, with a mum forever telling him off for nose picking and for letting the dog lick his spoon, and a firm view that brown is the best colour going.