Gilly's Monster Trap

by Cyndi Marko, Cyndi Marko (Illustrator)

Overview

A young girl and her goldfish sidekick set out to trap a monster and instead wind up making a new friend in this debut picture book that’s perfect for fans of How to Catch a Monster and Jules vs. the Ocean.

Gilly loves to flap her flippers in Lighthouse Bay…until a mysterious monster starts menacing the market! It swipes Gilly’s flippers, snatches fish, and nabs nets. So Gilly hatches a plan: she is going to catch the sneaky, rotten monster! With the help of her goldfish, Finnegan, and the townspeople, she builds a trap.

But when things go awry, Gilly discovers she and the monster may have been after the same thing all along—a friend.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781665907569
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
Publication date:	04/18/2023
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
Lexile:	AD530L (what's this?)
File size:	88 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Cyndi Marko is the author-illustrator of the award-winning Kung Pow Chicken early chapter book series, the graphic novel chapter books This Little Piggy: An Owner’s Manual and Boo! Hiss!, the middle grade graphic novel series Sloth Sleuth, and picture books Let’s Monster Up! and Gilly’s Monster Trap. She currently lives in Edmonton, Canada, with her quiet kids and noisy cats. Learn more at CyndiMarko.com.

Editorial Reviews

02/06/2023

Wearing big orange flippers and a striped swimsuit, her brown hair spilling out of a flowered swim cap, water-loving Gilly, who reads as white, spends her days paddling with pet fish Finnegan in Lighthouse Bay, amid the snow-capped peaks that surround it. But something’s afoot in this idyllic setting: a thief first steals from the local marketplace, where the community is portrayed with various skin tones, then swipes Gilly’s flippers right off her feet. Fears of a sea monster force the closing of the girl’s beloved beach, but Gilly stands pat: her dot eyes and expressive eyebrows exuding determination, she leads the adults in setting a trap, only to discover—after stumbling into the snare herself—that the culprit is a friendly walrus. Forgiven and dubbed Ringo, it becomes a full-fledged member of the Lighthouse Bay paddlers. Rendered in sprightly watercolor and ink cartoons, Marko’s action-packed picture book debut features a panoply of compositional styles, lively language (Gilly “scanned the horizon for horns and spikes. She inspected the waves for teeth and claws”), and a protagonist that is the very definition of mettle. Walrus facts conclude. Ages 4–8. Agent: Elizabeth Bennett, Transatlantic. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

2023-01-25
A bayside town faces off with a thieving creature of the depths.

“I heard the monster nabbed a fishing net last night!” “I heard it swims underwater as fast as a TORPEDO!” “I heard its stinky breath can turn your skin GREEN!” Rumors circulate about an elusive nuisance in Lighthouse Bay. But Gilly, a light-skinned, water-loving child who totes her beloved fish, Finnegan, everywhere (in his bowl), won’t let the supposed monster stop her from swimming. That is, until the monster snatches one of her flippers. Gilly enlists a group of other Lighthouse Bay residents, who are diverse in skin tone but unified in their disgust for the alleged monster who has been stealing everything from sweaters to pails of prawns. They craft a rudimentary trap, and the monster is ensnared—but not in Gilly’s contraption. Worried that the creature, tangled in a net in the bay, might drown, Gilly softens and helps it, discovering it’s not a monster at all but a clingy walrus in need of a pal and eventually befriending it. The watercolor-and-ink illustrations are friendly and matter-of-fact, bringing to life an adventure that’s ultimately an unexpected story of friendship. The quick pacing makes for a fantastic read-aloud, rounded out by fun facts about walruses and relevant websites. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A cheerful tale certain to ensnare readers. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews