My class absolutely loved this book. It was a cute story about a Donkey, and we have read it more than one time! My class is 15 kids of 4-5 year olds, and this one was a hit.

Monty de ezel is heel tevreden op de boerderij, maar soms kijkt hij naar boven en vraagt hij zich af waar de vogels naartoe vliegen. Als op een dag het hek openstaat, grijpt hij zijn kans. Hij gaat op ontdekking uit!

Monty is een vrolijke, sympathieke hoofdpersoon. Door zijn mooie blauwe kleur is hij prettig om naar te kijken en valt hij op tussen de rest van het kleurenpalet – vooral aardetinten.

Monty is a typical donkey,
and he is having a typical donkey day.
Standing in the meadow, he chews
on heaps of grass, as he does every day.

Met het bovenstaande blokje tekst waarmee het boek opent, zet auteur Ellen Delange me op het verkeerde been. Doordat het rijmt (‘day’ met ‘day’, maar toch) en door het bedrieglijke ritme, denk ik even dat het helemaal in rijmvorm geschreven zal zijn, maar – helaas – nope.

Er gebeurt veel op de bladzijdes, qua tekeningen, maar het is nergens te vol of rommelig. Net als voor Monty is er voor kinderen juist lekker veel te ontdekken. Monty komt allerlei dieren tegen en is nieuwsgierig naar wat zij aan het doen zijn. Zo zit er ook een leer-element in het boek. De auteur geeft geluiden – van smakkende dieren en een vallende boom – weer als ‘chomp chomp’ en ‘THUD!’ Dat geeft een klein beetje een stripboek-gevoel. Leuk!

De uiteindelijke boodschap is dat, hoe fijn het ook is om eropuit te trekken, het net zo fijn is om weer thuis te komen. Monty’s Special Day zal vooral in de smaak vallen als voorleesboek, denk ik, omdat er zoveel te zien is waarover dan weer allerlei vragen gesteld kunnen worden. De illustraties en het verhaal lenen zich goed voor de wat kleinere kinderen, omdat het nergens echt wild of spannend is.

A sweet story about a curious donkey named Monty, who breaks out of his usual routine of grass chomping and checking in on the other animals in the farm yard one day after he finds the gate open. He sees some wild geese flying overhead, and decides to follow them, leading to many adventures- eating apples, enjoying berries with a moose, being startled by beavers when they take down a tree near him, and more. Finally, he finds his way home, sharing his story and some treats he found along the way (apples, berries, and nuts) with his friends, before concluding that adventures are fun, but coming home is best. The story has a subtle lesson about trying new things, and the art is marvelous, so much detail to get caught up in, and it blends with the story perfectly. The endpapers show Monty's journey, helping to express how even small journeys can be exciting.

#MontysSpecialDay #NetGalley

This was a super cute story with a great ending. My 4 year old loved the animals and seeing where the donkey went ❤️

This was absolutely delightful! A warm, happy read about a Donkey that goes on an adventure and tries new things before going home to his friends and telling them all about it.
The language is simple enough for early readers (4/5 yo) to read with a parent (and slightly older children to read by themselves) and the illustrations are lovely and detailed which is sure to catch the eye and hold the attention of children of all ages.

I loved the lively and colourful illustrations in this book and I think they could promote a lot of discussion with young children. I also liked the premise of the story, Monty the donkey going on a little adventure for the day because the gate was left open, but I did feel it could have been a bit more exciting for him. I also think a short information paragraph about each of the birds and animals in the story would have been a nice addition. Thank you to Ellen Delange, Net Galley and Clavis Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Monty's Special Day is a delightful picture book about a donkey named Monty.

He's just your average Joe living his life to the fullest. He does his own thing and enjoys himself. One day, he walks out of the farm and into the wild! We follow him on his little adventure. Eventually he comes back to tell all of his friends of his exciting day!

The pictures are great in this story. They have lots of personality and make me really love Monty. He seems like such a fun little guy!

Three out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Clavis Publishing for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

I didn't personally connect with "Monty's Special Day." The story lost me, and I almost didn't finish it. However, I enjoyed the illustrations and use of color.

I thought that this book was lovely!

I read it with my daughter in bed tonight and she really enjoyed it.
She was telling me about Monty and pointing out the different farm animals too.

It was an easy story to read and it was fun to follow Monty on his special Donkey day too.
Well written and easy for my three year old to understand so a hit in our house.

Very highly recommended – it is 5 stars from me for this one – a lovely read!

Thanks for the opportunity to review this children’s book. Starring Monty the donkey, this beautifully illustrated children’s book is a fun adventure. For me, the strengths of the book are the illustrations, fun premise, and storyline.

Monty's typical donkey day turns into a very special donkey day when he discovers that the gate, which is usually closed, has been left open! As he wanders, Monty learns about all sorts of things he didn't know before.

I loved this book because, in addition to the simple and interesting text, the illustrations were visually complex. There are lots of details all throughout the book that would make it a great read aloud for early grades. There are plenty of sound effects to make and details to point out, but the book also builds in opportunities to build book and print knowledge with young students.

For example, in a scene where Monty is wandering along the road, there's a point he is zoomed past by a red motorcycle. The motorcycle appears at two places in the spread, and everything on the left page is slightly smaller than the right page. This spread would be a great chance to highlight that we read from left to right in English--the left page happens before the right page, even though they're both there at the same time.

The teacher in me loves this book, but so does the reader. I am excited to incorporate it into my lessons after it comes out!

I loved reading about Monty’s day of adventure. The illustrations are amazing!! The story was fun and I enjoyed the way it wrapped up. I do think some of the wording and the length of the sentences were a bit long for a book for young kids.

What a wonderful, adventurous story with fun characters and inviting illustrations! And, while I love the meter and sentiment of the text, I wish it were more brief.

Monty the Donkey is a very nice and lovely donkey, with lots of friends on the farm where he lives.
But one day Monty decides to follow the birds, and that will be a great adventure! There's lots to see, there are different animals there and dangerous situations occur. And so this great adventure is nice, but coming home might be even nicer.

Ellen DeLange created a beautiful picturebook about friendship, adventure, leaving home and most of all coming back home! The colorfull illustrations made by Malgorzata Zojac complete this book.

A very lovely story with a toutch of humor, that fits in with the age that it's written for. So let's go on an adventure with your lovely 4 and 5 year olds!

MONTY’S SPECIAL DAY: This was my first time reading a children’s book electronically. I knew I would be seeing my four year old grandson so I looked for some titles that we could read together on my iPad. Unfortunately the day of my visit, my grandson was too wired to sit still and read the whole book with me so I can’t speak to the overall reception by a younger audience but as a sort of “plus one” for a children’s book, I appreciated the artwork and story. I especially loved the images of Monty himself. The page where Monty sees the geese eating apples in the trees sparked an interesting conversation with the rest of the family but especially drew in my husband who is a lifelong birder. I have never seen a Canada Goose in a tree and scoffed at the idea but learned that these geese will in fact sit in trees. (I am still very skeptical about a goose sitting in an apple tree and eating an apple though.) For my own educational enrichment, I was thankful we shared the story even if we didn’t accompany Monty through the whole of his adventure.

Monty is an adorable little donkey who is happy with his farm life and the variety of animals he is lucky enough to have as his friends. One day he discovers that someone has left the gate wide open and his curiosity gets the best of him and out he goes on an adventure. He encounters different creatures on his undertaking: wild geese flying overhead, a moose eating some juicy berries, some rowdy squirrels gathering seeds and nuts, and some busy beavers cutting down trees with their sharp teeth.

Monty is out of breath and exhausted now and lays down for a little rest. The geese return and point him in the direction of home. Thank goodness! Monty realizes that although it's fun to escape from your every day surroundings and life it's even more fun to return to the comfort and safety of your own sweet home. He learns that home is where his heart is.

The illustrations enrich the message of the text and are colourful and detailed. This is how the story of Monty's Special Day originated in the author's own words:

"I often pass a farmhouse that’s located near a small river. In the meadow lives a friendly donkey. He always walks the same loop, but sometimes I see him standing still, looking up. Once, I wondered what he was looking at. Could it be the geese flying overhead?
I imagined that one day his curiosity would prompt him to follow the birds, to find out where they are going.
His typical donkey day then turns out to be a special day, and he can’t wait to share his adventure with his friends.
That’s how the story of Monty’s Special Day came to be. "

I highly recommend this book.

This is a sweet little story about an ordinary donkey, Monty. He always does the same things every day, chomping on lots of grass, making the rounds of the farm yard and saying hi to his friends, the chickens, a horse, a sheep and a llama. All of the animals love Monty.

However Monty often looks up to the sky and sees geese flying and he wonders where they are going. One day Monty is more curious then ever and walks through the farm yard gate and tries to follow the geese. He can't keep up with them but he does meet some interesting new friends including a beaver, birds and fish swimming in a pond and a Moose eating some delicious berries. By the end of the day he is tired and lying down to rest. Then he sees the geese flying overhead again. "Wait, isn't that my meadow in the distance?" Monty jumps up and runs down the hill where all of his friends greet him.

The animals all want to hear about his adventure. "It's great to go places," he tells his friends. "But it's even better to come back home".

The illustrations are vibrant and cute with lots of little details to look at. The message is a simple one, it's fun to visit different places and meet other people but it's always good to come home to be with your friends and family.

I would recommend this book to children ages 3 and up but even a younger child would enjoy the pictures and simple verses. I loved the author's dedication "For my parents who always encouraged me to think outside the box and push my limits".

This little gem of a book is due to be published on November 17, 2020.
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

Will post to Amazon upon publication

Unfortunately, I could not find the book on Goodreads or BookBub to add my review

"Monty's Special Day" by Ellen Delange is a children's story about typical donkey who ends up going on quite an adventure one special day. The book follows Monty through his journey and introduces new plants, foods and animals to the story.

Our family enjoyed the story. This one would be fun for all ages, but does have some vocabulary words like "Shenanigas" that may need to be explained to younger readers. Also, in some parts the text appears over the grass in the illustrations and it is quite difficult to read. However, since this was an electronic copy perhaps these things will be remedied before publication or with a hardcover book etc.

Overall, our family found Monty to be an adorable and inquisitive character. We enjoyed seeing all of his adventures and learning about different foods and animals throughout the tale. It was engaging, fun and oh so sweet!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a cute book! I especially loved that it circled back to returning home at the end of the adventure, which I wasn't sure would happen. The illustrations and narrative were well written and easy to follow. A great read for my 6 year old!

Monty is a typical donkey living on his farm until one day he walks out the gate and goes on an adventure. A super cute, well-illustrated book about his travels and the animal friends he meets along the way.