Blog
Get the latest news with our Children’s Book Blog. We’re sharing our thoughts on the latest trends in publishing and children and YA books, along with odd musing and update from our award-winning author, Robin Bennett.
Quartet from Monster Books
Robin Bennett Eccentric and eclectic, Quartet from Monster books is a series of four rather different young adult titles we are publishing over the next 18 months. Why? Speaking for myself, it had a...
Reluctant Teen Readers: How can you get them to read?
Over the past couple of weeks we’ve looked into what it is that teens are looking for from books, and why it is that some of them just aren’t interested in reading. In terms of fiction, teens are looking for something they can see themselves reflected in, whether that...
Reluctant Teen Readers: Why Don’t They read?
Having discussed what teens read when they do, we come to the thornier question of why so many of them don’t read at all. In a wide sense, I think teens struggle to pick out books they like because they are working out who they are, so haven’t become familiar with...
Why Are Teens Reluctant Readers?
Teens are some of the most difficult-to-buy-for readers out there, and often very reluctant to read at all. We’ve been working on this blog series to delve into why, what you can do to help, and what books might be ideal. If you ask someone what their favourite books...
Is Buk The Book For You?
If your kids enjoyed any of these books below, then the answer is yes… Judging anyone’s taste in books is always a challenge - unless you know they’re a fan of a specific genre, choosing a novel someone else will genuinely appreciate is a difficult task. This is...
What Have We Been Up To At Monster Books This Month?
This month has been quite a busy one over here at Monster Books... A new release Firstly, this month we’ve been getting properly excited about the upcoming release of ‘Buk’, Robin’s quirky reimagining of Alice in Wonderland, which is such an intriguing story and ideal...
How to raise a reader
There are only two things that qualify me to write on how to raise a reader. I was raised a reader, and I was a children’s bookseller for a while - a large part of which was convincing children that reading was, in fact, worthwhile. I experienced varying degrees of...
The Delights Of E-Publishing
Following on from last week’s thoughts on the difference between reading on a screen and reading in print, we thought this week we’d take a gander at digital publishing’s place in the landscape. It has its critics, but e-publishing is a billion-dollar industry and...
Therapy For Dreamers, Philosophy For Fantasy: Buk
“If you love what you have, the world belongs to you.” - Buk Loafing about in pubs can still be an educational way to spend time. I remember once we were talking about how many British fantasy authors there were. It seemed odd that, for a fairly restrained nation, we...
Print vs Screen: is there a real difference?
In this modern age, the humble book can take many forms. You can carry around an entire library in your pocket, read war and peace without feeling like you’re holding a weapon in your hands, and take the entire Discworld series with you on your holidays. But is...