Boiling Steam Hands, Very Loud Roaring, Crushing and Crunching

Another class at St Edwards in Castle Donington have sent my ideas for monster species. Here are some of the best bits:

'His hands are made of boiling steam that could burn anything.'  - Corey.

Hands made of gas is a very original idea. Most monster have solid hands. Well done to Corey for thinking outside the box.

'He smells of fish, rotten food and forest pine.' - Harvey

Harvey has paid lots of attention to smell, which helps me understand Bob the Bully-Dozier.

'He is very load, roaring, HIMRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRR!” so that the whole world can hear.' - Ryan

Ryan has used letters to create his own word. This is a very effective way of getting across the sound a monster makes. It's ridiculously long and many serious authors might not approve - but I love it.

'My monster looks like a vampire with dog claws.  He smells like a cow pat and sounds like a giant crushing the ground.' - James

James has used the word 'crushing'. When speaking a word aloud sounds like to thing it describes, it is called onomatopoeia. James has used onomatopoeia, which helps me to really imagine the noise his monster makes. Very good.

'The monsters have a red brain attached to the top of the head with gleaming purple spots. When their brain comes out they are clever and when is in  Brain Boo does crazy things like says BOO!!! Sometimes yucky green goo comes out their brain. They have a huge eyeball that stares at you constantly. They have three white shiny teeth inside a big red smile  and as white as crunching snow.' - Andrea

I really like the idea of a monster whose behaviour depends on whether his brain is in or out of its head - that could be a useful story-telling device. Andrea has also done a great job of making her monster disgusting, with green goo coming out of its brain. I also like the words 'gleaming' and 'crunching'. Crunching is another example of onomatopoeia.

'Edward Fire-Teeth looks like a dragon with teeth that spread purple fire. Its weaknesses are crying at soppy films and being scared of human beings.'

This description is very funny because it sets up a monster that sounds scary and then surprises us by making it scared of human beings.

'One of it’s strengths is if it can get close enough its breathtaking stench can make you faint in less than a minute.'

Mollie is not the first child to suggests monsters with breath that can make people faint. This could be a handy skill for a monster to have. Perhaps we should use it in our book ...

'He is so revolting because he likes eating snails as their shells are crunchy and his breath smells that rotten it burns through trees like cutting cheese.'

Charlotte's monster seems to have even more vile breath (if that's possible!). Her description contains onomatopoeia ('crunch') and a great example of showing the reader how bad the monster's breath is, as well as telling ('it burns through trees').

Sneaky Snaggletooth

Sneaky Snaggletooths are ruthless (they have no ruths!) and savage creatures. They have the ability to sneak around without being seen, heard or touched by passers by. They can also summon whirlwinds, although they don't usually use that because it ruins the sneaking part.

They have survived for thousands of years because they are really smart, but the obvious things manage to always slip their minds.

Their reptilianscales cannot be pierced by any ordinary sword although the smell of onion can knock them out for several hours.

Their mouth holds two metre-tall teeth that are as sharp as Excalibur.

On the end of a Sneaky Snaggletooth's hand are three razor sharp talons that, in one slice, could chop a man in half.

A Snaggletooth is very particular about it's food. It will only eat two things; human guts and melted gold. This is where the hunting comes in...'

By Matthew

I decided to post Matthew's whole description. The reason I like it so much is that he's really thought about how his design would effect the story, for example the effect that summoning a whirlwind would have on his monsters' ability to sneak. Even though his monsters are very dangerous, he's already given our heroes a weapon they could use against them - onions.

Thanks to all the children who've submitted monsters so far. Remember, the deadline for monster species ideas is today. However, if you miss the chance to design a species, there will be the opportunity to create specific characters in weeks 2 and 3.