Matthew’s Monsters Book Review & Giveaway (Plus a Discount Code)!

As my daughter advances through reading curriculum at school, they don’t simply focus on the words she can sound out and read. Comprehension, including the abilities to retell a story and remember important details, are also important. She is an avid reader and I appreciate how this approach encourages her to do more than just sound out words or get the gist of a story. Instead, she stops to ask questions about word meanings or to paraphrase what is happening in a story to make sure she understands the different nuances.

Creative Reading for Kids invites kids to develop these same reading skills in a fun and natural way. www.creativereadingforkids.com was established by Stephanie Sisler, a former school teacher with a graduate degree in education. She is now a a stay at home mom and has written three books that engage children in a fun, interactive reading experience.

Sisler’s books are designed for adults and children to interact with a story and include three important elements. They
•Makes Reading Fun
•Involve the Reader in the Book
and
•Allow Parents or Mentors to Play a Role

Stephanie invited our family to read and review Matthew’s Monsters, a story that promotes reading comprehension skills by allowing the kids to answer questions and color inside the book. The book is intended for 4 to 9 year-old readers, so it proved a great fit for my 4 and 7 year-old. The story uses a creative mix of illustrations, colorful fonts, coloring pages, and quizzes to engage children in reading comprehension. Both of my children responded very positively to these interactive elements.

My 7 year-old loved reading the story out loud, on a page that looked like this. My 4 year-old liked listening to the story and coloring in details.

The kids would then invite me to quiz them on their reading. Ella liked to do it all from memory without looking at any pictures. Ezra liked to read along and reference the pictures and the colored fonts.

As we read the story, my kids enjoyed seeing the different monsters Matthew imagines and guessing what the monsters could “really be.” They were never truly frightened, but definitely intrigued, and delighted by the surprise reveal at the end.

My only critique of the story – albeit a small one – was that it was perhaps a bit long for my 4 year-old’s attention span. Overall, everyone in the family enjoyed this creative, engaging, colorful story and we will return to it again.

Stephanie made the experience even more fun for my kids, offering them an additional opportunity to get creative. Each child received a Matthew’s Monsters t-shirt with one of the story’s main monsters to color. They loved coloring their t-shirts and proudly wear them.

Giveaway Closed

Creative Reading for Kids has kindly offered all The Inquisitive Mom readers 15% off their purchase with the code “theinquisitivemom” (all lower case)! You can also enter to win your very own autographed copy of Matthew’s Monsters by entering the giveaway below!