I was pleasantly surprised by this story. Leo is a mouse visiting a friend in the country. While he's there he sees a monster! I wasn't expecting the ending and I think it was a fun twist. I know some children would enjoy deciphering the clues. The illustrations were very colorful and clear, but not my personal favorite style.

We loved the illustrations of this book. The story was easy to read and follow, as my 7 year old read the book to me. I think the audience for this book would be preschool age as my 7 year old liked it but said it was "a bit boring, Mom". But that could simply be because he is older. I will say he loved when he guessed what the monster was before we were told in the book!

I will definitely put this on my list to read to my 2nd grade students. Leo's Monster is pretty interactive to where the reader can guess, guess, and keep guessing to figure out who this Monster is that Leo stumbled upon!

A simple, short read. Leo creates the picture of his monster with fun descriptions! I think there could have been a more outright stated teaching point at the end when Leo realized that his monster was a regular cow. Just a quick blurb about new things seeming scary at first.
Overall, it was a cute book and the illustration was great.
This is a great book for small children that are getting ready to meet new animals or see new places, to show them sometimes their imagination gets wild.

I was given this ebook to read from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Leo's Monster by Marcus Pfister is a cute story of a city mouse visiting a country mouse, and a creature he encounters that he's never before seen. It's a great story to use as a jumping off point about perspective - how something new or different can seem frightening at first. The illustrations are very colorful and imaginative, and go from extremely outlandish, to revealing the true identity of the "monster."

I read this book with my 5 year old, who thought it was a little funny, but just ok. The country mouse was scared and was stammering, but it got to be a little redundant. Overall, it was a simple and enjoyable read with a nice message about perspective.

Thank you to NetGalley and North South Books Inc. for the opportunity to read this title in exchange for a honest review.

I read this book to my 5 and 7 year old and they were pretty entertained. I thought the illustration was just OK and the story flowed pretty well, although the beginning was kinda eh. This would be a good younger kids book I think!

Thanks to NetGalley and NorthSouth Books for a free copy of this book in return for an honest review. So, as many have said this is sort of a retelling of Country Mouse and City Mouse, but with the illustrations it works. Leo goes out to the country to visit his friend Zoe. He wanders outside and eventually rushes in to tell her that he has seen a monster. Each clue gives us some fresh illustrations as what it could be, and eventually all the clues point to one of Zoe's friends not a monster. Simple tale of exaggeration of the unknown, but I did enjoy this book!

I requested and received an e-ARC of this book from NetGalley and North South Books Inc. in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the illustrations; the pictures were so vibrant. This book was a cute book about monsters and misconceptions. I love that Zoe (farm mouse) was not worried about the monster that Leo (city mouse) found while he was out enjoying the fresh air. This book will help kids understand that things can be scary the first time we see them, even if they are just farm animals.

#LeosMonster #NetGalley

I would expect nothing less from the author of The Rainbow Fish! Leo’s Monster was beautifully illustrated with vibrant colors and scenes that tickle the imagination! The storyline was easy to follow and enjoy. The text was large enough to read. A wonderful children’s book!!

Marcus Pfister brings another wonderful tale to the world of chidlren's storybooks. The art style was just as stunning as one has grown to expect from the author of such titles as Rainbow Fish. A silly tale with a good lesson - sometimes things aren't quite as scary at they can seem!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This one was cute, but not very exciting. There didn't seem to be all that much story. The illustrations were also cute, but again, nothing overly interesting.

Beautiful illustrations and fun story. Not a lot of depth as it is a little short and ends quickly. It would appeal most to toddlers.

Thank you NetGalley and NorthSouth Publications for providing this ARC.

This was a really cute little book. I read it to my almost eleven month old son as I was putting him down for a nap and he seemed to enjoy the illustrations and my impressions of Leo's voice when he was scared 😂 This is a short read that makes for a perfect book before a nap or bedtime. Thank you to Netgalley for sharing it with me.

The illustrations for this book are very cute and appropriate to the story. However the premise is simply another telling of Aesops's fable of "The Country Mouse and The City Mouse" with a more updated and simplified story for younger children.

This isn't a bad book it's just not very exciting. My audience was a 4 year old so perhaps a toddler would find it more amusing.

The book was very eye catching and we enjoyed finding that the monster was just a cow, cute but not really surprising.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

will post to Amazon upon publication

This is a lovely, simple book about a town mouse, Leo, visiting his cousin, Zoe, in the countryside. While he is exploring he meets a monster who frightens the life out of him.

I read this with my grandson, also called Leo, and he really enjoyed it. He is only two and so we read half of it and then came back to it later. He guessed what the monster was and felt very pleased with himself.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers and would recommend it to anyone who wants a quick read with lovely illustrations and an easy to understand story. I would suggest an age range up to about six.

This is too cute! I found myself as a 25 year-old invested in determining what type of creature Leo was referring to.

The illustration was just wonderful!

Leo's Monster by Marcus Pfister is a beautiful little book that I will be excited to share. When I saw that it was by the author of The Rainbow Fish, one of my favorite books of my own childhood, I knew I had to read it, and I was not disappointed. Leo, the city mouse, visits his friend Zoe in the country side for the first time, and he is not prepared for what he will encounter. As before, his illustrations are stunning and really add to the story he is telling. He made this a fun read that will be so easy to make entertaining when reading to your little ones.

This book was a bigger hit with my youngest two than I was expecting. As an adult, it’s so clear even just from the cover what the big “twist” is going to be. And the kids knew straight away too. However, for them, knowing in advance did nothing to ruin the story. They loved the way Leo describes his “monster” and loved even more the illustrations of what Zoe imagines based on Leo’s story. Again, no suspense, but a lot of laughter and fun.

If you’ve got kids with a lot of imagination, they’d probably get a kick out of this book. My eldest is too old to be interested now, but I suspect that even at this book’s target age his more black and white mind would have found this story less entertaining than his siblings did.

These illustrations in this book are fantastic! They’re so imaginative. The story is also really adorable. It shows to get over your fears!

Review of eBook

The imaginative illustrations are the highlight of this book; in addition, the idea of the city mouse discovering a frightening “monster” on his visit to the country is cute. And, as the story unfolds, Zoe’s calmness nicely counteracts Leo’s fright.

But the message in this story isn’t one for young children. There’s Leo’s sarcasm [“If it had spit fire, I’d hardly be standing here now, would I?”], an attitude that’s so out of place in a story that’s supposed to mystify and entertain young readers. And why does Zoe tease Leo [“Did it spit fire?” and “Oh come on, now you really are exaggerating!”] when he’s so frightened? She is supposed to be Leo’s friend . . . why isn’t she even a little sympathetic in the face of his obvious fear? Sure, she knows the monster isn’t really a monster, but it’s as if she’s having mean-spirited fun at her friend’s expense.

Written for the young reader [preschool through second grade, ages four through eight], most are likely to guess the true nature of the monster long before the big reveal that abruptly ends this disappointing story.

I received a free copy of this eBook from North South Books Incorporated and NetGalley
#LeosMonster #NetGalley