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MY MONSTER FRIENDS AND ME

Name: MY MONSTER FRIENDS AND ME
Author: Annie Sarac
ISBN: 978-1-4926-9367-3

A BIG KID'S GUIDE TO THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT

by Annie Sarac ; illustrated by Alice Brereton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 7, 2020

A solid choice to address fears.

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A child invites readers to uncover common childhood fears and describes how to transform monsters to friends.

An 8-year-old kid shares experiences with monsters and fears—and the secret to handling them: Naming each monster makes the fear go away. The first sharp-toothed monster lives on the other side of a picket fence. It turns out the first monster’s name is Kate and is actually a sweet dog. The protagonist continues through the house addressing other monsters, or common childhood fears, including shadows, the dark, thunder and lightning, and, of course, the monster under the bed. Each fear is first illustrated and described with its own dark, frightening monster personality, but with a flip of the page it is transformed into a bright, cheery version of what it really is. This is a great way to start talking to young children about their fears and the monsters they become in their imaginations. In rhyming verse, Sarac encourages children to take control of their fears by giving them names and reimagining them as friends, not foes. Some of the verses do not flow smoothly, but they still get the message across. The illustrations combine bold colors, geometrical shapes, and lots of textures and patterns that really emphasize the darkness of fears—and the light of reimagining them. The bespectacled protagonist has pale skin and wavy black hair.

A solid choice to address fears. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-4926-9367-3

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland

Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S PARANORMAL & SUPERNATURAL

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LITTLE BLUE TRUCK LOST AND FOUND

From the Little Blue Truck series

by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 18, 2026

Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed.

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Beep! Beep! Beep! Toad and Little Blue Truck get ready for a hayride.

After the titular vehicle is loaded with hay, Toad is nowhere to be found. “Beep! Beep! Beep! Where are you, Toad?” asks Little Blue Truck. All the barnyard animals look for him. Sheep searches the meadow. Goose and Duck check the pond. Others pitch in, too, but Toad seems to have disappeared…until Hen hears snoring coming from the pile of hay in the back of Little Blue Truck. Although the text’s scansion is imperfect in places (adults may want to pre-read to ensure a smooth read-aloud), the bouncy meter and rhyming text nevertheless capture the energy of the search and the farmyard community’s concern for Toad’s safety, making this a solid storytime choice. Eye-catching illustrations with rich, fully saturated colors balance the right level of detail while still highlighting the animal that is the focus of each verse. By introducing one farm animal at a time, Schertle also helps the youngest readers begin to identify barnyard animals by name and understand their unique farm homes. Traditional animal sounds are part of the text, and listeners will add them to their vocabulary. It all ends with the promised hayride, bringing the tale to a joyous ending.

Fun times, fond friends, and a festive farmyard setting—little ones will be charmed. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2026

ISBN: 9780063436121

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE BLUE TRUCK AND RACER RED
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE BLUE TRUCK MAKES A FRIEND
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry

- BOOK REVIEW
TIME FOR SCHOOL, LITTLE BLUE TRUCK
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)