Many children are scared of the dark, and the strange noises they hear in the night. My daughter recently told me earnestly that it is great that we have done a big clean-up of her room, because now all the little monsters have gone, “but the big ones are still there.”
Melanie Drewery's new picture book The Grumble Rumble Mumbler, illustrated by Loudmouth Productions, is for all those children who lie awake in the scary dark. It features a little girl who can’t sleep, because of all the noises she hears. Her monsters aren't European or American ones, but traditional Aotearoa creatures: a lovingly drawn Maero, Taipoo, Taniwha, and Ngaarara. She keeps running to her patient, but increasingly tired mama, who shows her that the scary noises relate to everyday household things. Or do they?
Now, I know that flap-books can be the bane of school librarians' lives, but these flaps are solid and strongly built, and an important part of the book. They show the friendly-looking monsters of our girl's imagination, or perhaps the real creatures, hiding where an adult can’t find them.
With wonderful use of all the things that make a good picture book great, like repetition, onamatopaeia, and humour, The Grumble Rumble Mumbler acknowledges children’s fears, and deals with them in a gentle and reassuring way.
On Wednesday 17 October 2007, The Grumble Rumble Mumbler will be read at libraries all across New Zealand, as part of Library Week. Will your school library be joining in?
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