CLARA THE CUCUY RESCUER

A different kind of monster-under-the-bed story.

As soon as brown-skinned Clara awakens, she cheerfully greets the cucuy (defined in the Spanish-language glossary as a monster) beneath her bed. Though most people are terrified of these creatures, Clara and her parents rescue and care for them. Today, for the first time, Clara will be joining Papi on a mission to rescue a cucuy from a woman’s basement. The woman is frightened of the monster, but Clara knows what to do. “You have to be fast…You have to be strong. You have to be observant,” she tells her parents before she and Papi set out. Although she feels prepared, the big purple cucuy is intimidating, and after Papi twists his ankle trying to wrap the cucuy in a blanket, Clara must step up to help. Her quick thinking ultimately soothes the cucuy. The creature accompanies Clara and Papi to their house, where it suddenly seems a lot smaller and where Clara adds another rule to her list: “Be kind.” Palacios’ cartoon-style illustrations will help readers decode the text while adding humor, especially in their characterizations of the sweetly strange cucuys. Fans of stories like Pixar’s Monsters Inc. or Mo Willems’ Leonardo the Terrible Monster will recognize familiar ground in how this offbeat but gentle story unfolds. Spanish is interspersed throughout, and Clara and her family are cued Latine.

Monstrously fun.