the story of growl

Growl is a little monster. And little monsters love to GROWL!

So what does a little monster do when she’s banned from growling? Will the neighbours agree to let her do the thing she loves most? How will Growl get her growl back?

Awards

Children’s Book Council of Australia Notable Book 2008

About

This book began with the song ‘My name is Growl and GROWL is what I do’. From the start, I knew the song was sung by a cute little monster, and I knew that she would get into trouble for the ‘enthusiasm’ of her growling, and be banned from doing it. In the first version of the story, she was in trouble with her parents for growling, but as my agent pointed out ‘Why would a monster be in trouble for growling? Surely her monster parents would want to be encouraging that sort of typical monster behaviour?’ She definitely had a point (agents are great like that). So I turned it into a neighbourhood dispute, with the classic device of a robber to move the narrative along. Robbers often feature in children’s books because they’re scary but not too scary. I love the message of The Story of Growl, about accepting others for who they are, the importance of community and of considering others as well as yourself.

Editions

Penguin/Viking in Australia
Kane/Miller in USA