Milo’s Monster

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Milo loves spending time with his best friend, Jay. But when a new girl called Suzi moves in next door, Milo starts to feel left out. The jealous feeling gets stronger and stronger – until suddenly, a GREEN-EYED MONSTER pops up beside him! Soon, the monster is poisoning Milo’s thoughts. It won’t leave him alone!

Can Milo find a way to free himself from the monster and repair his friendship?

English:

• Look at the front cover of the book. Who or what is Milo’s Monster? What do you think might happen in the story?
• The title of this story uses alliteration. Can you think of (or make up) other book titles that also include alliteration?
• Read the author’s letter on the inside cover. Could you write a reply to this?
• Write a prequel that describes an adventure that Milo and Jay had together.
• Write a letter from Milo to Jay that explains how Milo felt when Jay first went to see the girl in the garden across the road.
• Jealousy (or envy) is often described as a ‘green-eyed monster’. Can you find out more about the history of this phrase?
• Write a new story in which Milo’s green-eyed monster returns. What might Milo be jealous of? How might he respond?=
• Retell the story from Milo, Jay or Suzi’s point of view.
• Read the other books in the Big Bright Feelings series by Tom Percival.
• Record a read-aloud version of this book. Here is an example:

Computing:

• Design a game in which a character has to defeat a green-eyed monster.
• Could you make an animated trailer for this book? Here is one example:

Art:

• The author / illustrator of this book has created a picture to show what ‘jealousy’ might look like. Can you create your own pictures of other ’emotion monsters’?
• How do Milo’s facial expressions change throughout the story? Draw your own pictures to show a character’s changing emotions.
• How has Tom Percival used different shades of grey in the illustrations? Could you use similar techniques to draw attention to more colourful parts of a picture?
• Could you retell the story in the form of a comic strip?

PSHE:

• At the start of the story, Milo and Jay are best friends. Do you have a best friend? How do they make you feel? What could somebody do to make new friends?
• What does it mean to be jealous? Can you think of a time when you felt jealousy?
• If you felt jealous of another person, what would you do? How could you help somebody who was feeling jealous of you?
• Read the author’s letter at the start of the story and use some of his tips to create a poster to teach people about jealousy and what they can do to deal with those types of feelings.
• How did Milo react in this story? What might have been a better way to deal with Jay’s new friendship?
• Make a list of other emotions and sort them into different groups.