- Sean Leahy and Mihály Orodán (Illustrator)
A book for children
In every town, there is one shop that always changes its face.
In Stapleton, it was the very last shop in town.
Bib is an adventurous sort of a boy, so a new café wouldn’t faze him, even if it was run by monsters! Excited by the idea of having a birthday dinner made by hairy beasts and served by a snake-like waitress, he encourages his whole family to take him to the most talked about place in town. But what, or who will be on the menu?
The debut children’s book by Sean Leahy and Mihály Orodán, The Monster Café is a humourous tale that deals with pre-conceptions, pre-school excitement and pre-tty big monsters.
“Sean is one of the funniest. Why aren’t you following him yet?” - Playboy
“He’s very funny, despite the circumstances” - Moose Allain
“Very funny indeed” - Sixth Form Poet
Sean Leahy is the flesh-and-bone edition of wonky tweetsmith, @thepunningman. For the past couple of years he has been writing very short and occasionally hilarious jokes to wild acclaim, featuring in Playboy’s 50 Funniest People on Twitter, and appearing on Buzzfeed, Comedy Central, The Poke, Huffington Post, Funny or Die and TimeOut among others. Sean lives outside the gates of Hampton Court Palace with his wife and two children.
Mihály Orodán was born in Gyula, Hungary, with a pencil in his hand and a thumb up his nose. The only difference now is sometimes he uses a wacom tablet because it’s the future. Mike’s illustrations bring life to everything he touches, and have be seen gracing magazines, computer games, greeting cards and his twin boys’ bedroom wall.
Close to close
Monday, 30 April 2018
I had a little reminder this morning on my timehop app that it is two years to the day that we launched The Monster Café on Unbound. It has been quite the fairground ride, and speaking as someone who once went a shade of Dulux Eggshell White when stepping on to the Indiana Jones rollercoaster at Disneyland Paris, I am quite happy to say it's amost over.
How close though, Sean? You've teased us…
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Happy World Book Day
Thursday, 2 March 2017
Every day is World Somethingorother Day now, isn't it? But today… today is a good one.
My drive to work this morning saw me overtake wizards, faeries, knights and pirates, all hurrying to school to show off their wonderful and outrageous costumes. And it was putting smiles on faces. World Book Day celebrates authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) reading.
It’s the biggest…
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We'll give it one hundred (and four) percent
Wednesday, 1 February 2017
Look, I know everything you have read for the past few weeks has been bad. Doom AND gloom. In spades. But shall we just crack the door open to a tiny glimmer of what might be considered A Nice Thing?
WE'RE ONLY BLOOMIN' FUNDED, COLIN!
(I don't know who Colin is)
A huge, enormous, THANK YOU-shaped slice of the good stuff to all of you who pledged to this book. And extra sugary stuff on top to…
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Have your cake and tweet it
Monday, 3 October 2016
Good grief, it's only October. That means it's less than a month before I can crowbar the fact that all the children in your neighbourhood(s) are dressed up as monsters is probably a good reason to pledge towards… hello, what's this? A children's book about monsters! How terribly convenient.
I've been thinking lately of devising a few new pledge levels for the book to offer out something new to…
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Illustrate of the Nation Address
Tuesday, 16 August 2016
Well hello there.
Apologies for a short lack of updates, but hopefully all this weather we're having heaped into our laps is keeping you outside in the real world and breathing in that fresh stuff you need to stand up.
I'm here to e-bother you today with news about your friend and mine, Mike, the man responsible for translating my words into beautiful visions for the benefit of your peepers…
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It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice
Monday, 27 June 2016
Uhoh, I bet you thought the one place you could avoid political chat was in the blog post of a kid's book, huh?
Well...
Last week one of the biggest decisions these isles have ever had to make came to pass. It may seem slightly over the top to try and tie in this news with our book, but bear with me for a sec.
I've not at any point pushed the topic that is broadly dealt with in The Monster…
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Drawing on our natural resources
Tuesday, 31 May 2016
Hi there, I trust you had a pleasant bank holiday weekend? Washing the car, leaving the bbq grill in the sink for a bit, finally getting around to putting that shelf up, that sort of thing. I spent an afternoon sitting on a scale model steam train and declining offers to go to the pub because I have tiny versions of myself to raise, because that's what you do when you sign the parenting license.
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These people are helping to fund The Monster Café.
Hi Sean, the book looks great! I'd like to help fund it, and buy a copy for my two boys. Do any of the pledge options allow two names in the back? Thank you.
Thanks so much Daniel. The confirmation email has a link to change the name to whomever you choose to go in the back of the book. I think putting "X and Y Jackson" would be more than alright. Or you could put your own kid's names I guess. Thanks again!
Hi there! This looks like a wonderfully imaginative world you've created & I can't wait to see how the finished product turns out when the project reaches its goal. Curious re: the “Favourite Customers” chalkboard in the café I pledged at - will you reach out to me at that point for the name I'd like to include? Thanks!
Hi Shawn, first, thanks SO much for pledging and the kind words. To answer your question, yes, you'll be contacted once the project is funded to let us know whose name you want on the chalkboard. And your name will be put in the back along with the other pledgers (unless you'd like that changed too). Thanks again!
Hi Sean,
Delighted to see you are fully funded now. I look forward to hearing from you as to what you may need with regard to the child in the book.
Happy New year
Bridget
Hello Bridget, thanks so much! I'm really excited that we're funded and can't wait to get everything in motion for getting the book out. Unbound will be in touch with you soon, and Mike and I will liaise with them about sorting this all out. Thank you again for your generous support with our book, it's appreciated more than you could know.
Hi Sean and Mihaly, Any update on the book? Unbound seems to be really noodling this one... Looking forward to it. John
Hi John, that is good timing. You should've received an update in your inbox literally a couple of minutes ago. Apologies for the lack of updates.