MONSTERS ARE THE WORST!

The Worst! series resumes with Gilbert grudgingly caring for a monster.

In previous books, fussy mint-green goblin Gilbert had to contend with elves, mermaids, and other creatures. This time around, a cute little pink-and-purple monster has made his way into Gilbert’s house. Directly addressing readers, Gilbert opens up about the situation via dialogue bubbles and a chalkboard presentation (e.g., “He might try to eat my tacos”); the monster proceeds to eat the chalkboard, essentially proving Gilbert’s anti-monster point. Some period of monster-minding agitation later, Gilbert sees a flyer in the woods asking for the monster’s return. To Gilbert’s surprise, doing the right thing—relinquishing the creature—is difficult: Gilbert has grown fond of the scamp. There’s something sweet here about how beneath someone’s annoying qualities, there may lie some good ones, but Willan doesn’t stoop to spelling this out. His cartoony digital art, in which the monster and his family resemble Kool-Aid–colored plush toys, does a lot of the talking. The book’s best visual gag takes place during one of Gilbert and the monster’s pickle-roast reunions: As the monster, who has gotten larger throughout the course of the book, is pinning a supine Gilbert to the forest floor, the gratified goblin notes that “he still insists on sitting on my lap.”

Many books into this series, Willan has the funny/adorable/touching balancing act down pat.