The Ravenous Beast
Title: The Ravenous Beast
Author: Niamh Sharkey
Publisher: Walker Books
Genre: Board Book
I originally bought The Ravenous Beast for the color scheme (its cover is purple, turquoise, and an orangy- yellow) and illustrations. And the fact that Ayla fell in love with it in the bookstore. That was a while back, and now our once new board book is chaffed, worn, and has a cracked spine. Sharkey’s book has become one of her favorites. It gets read at the table during lunch (my favorite time to read it), at night before bed from time to time, and every once in a while I read it at Half Price Books’ story time while the kids chow down on crackers.
If you make sure to do all the different voices and include the exclamation marks while reading, the book is always well received by children, despite the slightly disturbing end where The Ravenous Beast eats ALL the other characters. I suppose the disturbing factor is lost on kids anyway because they all think its the funniest thing ever. Truth be told, it is rather funny. The whale is my personal favorite, but Ayla prefers the cat and the crocodile.
Sharkey is a well-known and accomplished children’s illustrator, not only does she write and illustrate popular children’s books like The Ravenous Beast, she is the Children’s Laureate of Ireland and is now collaborating with Brown Bag Films and Disney to create a show based on her book I’m A Happy Hugglewug. Learn more about her and all her ventures on her blog: http://niamhsharkey.blogspot.com
Anakalian Whims 
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