I’m trying so hard not to take on new blog tours at the moment as life is so busy, but given how much I love children’s books, I simply couldn’t resist Little Mo and the Great Snow Monster by Michael Foreman. My grateful thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting me to participate in the blog tour. It’s my pleasure to share my review today.

Published by Thames & Hudson children’s books on 11th January 2024 Little Mo and the Great Snow Monster is available for purchase in all the usual places including here.

Little Mo and the Great Snow Monster

Home Alone meets Jurassic Park in this endearing story about a brave little mammal.

Internationally renowned children’s book illustrator Michael Foreman lends his compelling storytelling style to the tale of the world’s first mammal: Little Mo.

Little Mo lives with his father and mother in a cave during prehistoric times. Everything is new to him ― snow, ice, and most frightening of all, dinosaurs! When a pack of triceratops decide to make Little Mo’s cave their home, Mo has to muster all his courage to scare them away.

With an endearing central character whose gumption saves the day and stunning original watercolour illustrations throughout, Little Mo and the Great Snow Monster is the perfect prehistoric adventure for young readers.

My Review of Little Mo and the Great Snow Monster

Little Mo meets monsters!

Before my review proper of Little Mo and the Great Snow Monster I have to comment on the physical properties of the hardback book. It’s quite wonderful. It’s the perfect size for sharing at bedtime in the home or in story-time in places where there are groups of young children. It has high quality, robust covers with lovely endpapers relating to the snow of the story. Indeed, the illustrations are fantastic. There’s an ethereal wateriness to them that is just right for a story featuring snow, a frozen lake and water.

The story in Little Mo and the Great Snow Monster is smashing. Little Mo discovers snow for the first time and deals with a scary situation when the great snow monsters take over the family cave whilst his parents are out getting food. There’s excitement, peril and adventure, as well as a happy resolution that will appeal to all young readers. I loved the balance of text to image too as it allows more confident young readers to enjoy the story independently, but is not daunting to less advanced readers. The vocabulary is accessible, and for emergent writers there are super examples of the use of properly punctuated speech, ellipsis and upper case letters for effect and emphasis, with a wonderful resume at the end of the book about how we came to be in existence today that will capture the imagination.

That might all sound rather ‘educational’ but the real strength in Little Mo and the Great Snow Monster is the sheer delight of the story. Little Mo has adventures, is faced with scary monsters and yet is able to overcome his fears and scare away those monsters. This is a lovely element for children to understand. When Mo becomes encased in the giant snowball so that he scares off the monsters, it allows young children to realise that not everything is quite what it seems and our fears might be what we think is happening rather than what is actually there.

I thought Little Mo and the Great Snow Monster was absolutely glorious. It’s beautifully written and illustrated so that it would make a wonderful gift for any child. Just lovely!

About Michael Foreman

Michael Foreman is an internationally renowned, multi-award-winning children’s book illustrator and author. He has twice won the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal for British children’s book illustration and in 2022 was awarded an OBE for services to literature in the Queen’s Jubilee Honours. Long-time collaborator Michael Morpurgo has described him as ‘the greatest illustrator-storyteller of
his time’. His previous books include the Kate Greenaway Medal winning War Boy (1989).

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