I really enjoyed this little book. It has a pretty artwork and a nice story. I would recommend this to the kids and adults as well.

My favorite kind of story!! Right up their with Max und Moritz, Grimm's, Slovenly Peter, Series of Unfortunate Events, and other funny, subversive children's lit! I mean, kids will love this story and adults will be appalled! Too funny! And yes, I have a dark sense of humor! What could be funnier than a child eating monster?! I Really Like To Eat A Child by Syviane Donnio immediately sprang to mind! Wonderful picture book for littles (who will get the joke!).

Fun and silly story. Illustrations where very detailed and beautiful. I like how the author didn't shy away from making this tale a bit on the darker side, instead of fluffing it up with lightness.

The Yark by Bertrand Santini is a subversive chapter book about a monster who eats children--until one day he makes a friend. The Yark loves children with the love of a gourmet! This hairy monster dreams of child buffets--ham of boy, orphan gratin, breaded babies, and so on. But he has a problem: his delicate stomach can only tolerate nice children; liars give him heartburn and savages spoil his teeth. There are not nearly enough good, edible children around to keep him from starvation. Then the Yark finds sweet Madeleine. Will he gobble her up? Or will she survive long enough to change his life?

The Yark is not for the sensitive reader, because it does start of with how much the Yark like to eat children, and how he goes about it. There are some illustrations through the book, all in black and white pencil work, and they do a good job of drawing the reader in more, and helping them picture exactly what the author intends. The exploits of our Yark, who is a softie but quite hungry, are fantastic and silly, with a few moments that will scare some. Stealing the nice list from Santa gives him a road map to find tasty children to eat, but it never goes quite he was. He is tricked, accidentally eats a bad child- resulting in extreme distress. That is until Madeleine cares for him and they become the best of friends despite all odds. It is love that the Yark attempts to leave, only to suffer horribly but lose the need to eat good children and start on the path to change, with Madeleine's support of course. There is a life lesson to be had, and plenty to think about. It is not quite what I was expecting- although I am not sure what I was expecting anyway. It was interesting, and a little harsher than I expected in some ways.

The Yark is not necessarily for just children, and is certainly not for those that do not like some horror or mayhem in their reading. Like the original fairy tales, there is plenty of darkness here, and a higher level read that I was really expecting. I would think middle grade readers with a liking for horror, and older readers, will get much more out of this read than younger children.

The Yark by Bertrand Santini is about a monster called, well, the Yark, who lives off eating children. He needs good little boys and girls though. Eating bullies and scoundrels gives the Yark a right terrible tummyache. But over the years, decades, and centuries, there are fewer and fewer good children to be found. What's a monster to do? Steal Santa’s list, that's what! Whatever could possibly go wrong?

List in hand, the Yark travels the world looking for delectable children to gobble. Unfortunately for him, potential victim one sees his presence as an excuse to be bad. Potential victim two turns out to not be so delicious after all, and gives the Yark flying axe handles. He ends up crashing into an abandoned lighthouse, where a young orphan has made her home. Through the love she shows him, the Yark learns about humanity, and in doing so, about himself.

Full of gorgeous pencil and ink sketches, this tale was a brilliant commentary on how children pick up patterns of behaviour from parents. More importantly, it shows how it is possible to change one’s own behaviour by changing one’s thinking, and thus overcome upbringing or base instinct. Geared towards middle-grade readers, this is an invaluable lesson. We do not have to be what nature (or nurture) made us. I read this with my cubs, and we all enjoyed it. It really reminded me Stephen Cosgrove's Serendipity stories, though longer and darker. Certainly, the lessons were consistent!

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Myrick Marketing for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book is fun for older kids (like tween) or adults but would be terrifying for younger children. The beginning talks about how much monsters enjoy eating children and how they can even get in your house if the door is locked. I think this would scare the wits out of some kids!