German author Cornelia Funke (Inkheart; The Thief Lord) brought madcap fantasy adventure to early readers with her illustrated chapter books Emma and the Blue Genie and The Pirate Pig. Ruffleclaw, a story about a furry red earth monster, is just as wild and woolly.
Ruffleclaw's burrow is hidden under an old toolshed. His home "smelled of earthworms and millipedes" but it's cozy... the floor is covered in soft sweaters. The bright windows of the nearby human house attract him to it... and that "horridly wonderful jingly-music" the humans play (the mother of the family is a piano teacher) makes "his knees go all wobbly." He likes to break into their home at night with his monster claws, roll around on their carpets and peer into their "un-furry" faces while they're sleeping. He likes it so much, he decides to move in with them. When Tommy, the human boy of the house, wakes up to Ruffleclaw's close-proximity snoring, the story erupts into a chaotic, culture-colliding comedy in which Ruffleclaw spits on the wall ("Why? Where do you spit?" he asks calmly when told to stop), bites the radio ("That wasn't music," he growls) and eats an eraser. The gross-out factor is high here, but Ruffleclaw's true passion for the piano and the lonely Tommy's nearly inexplicable affection for the greedy, non-promise-keeping monster elevate the actually somewhat sweet story.
Funke's own black-and-white illustrations reflect Ruffleclaw's over-the-top personality and add a dash of monster spice to an already zesty adventure. "Snail-slimifyingly good!" as Ruffleclaw would say. --Karin Snelson, children's and YA editor, Shelf Awareness