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ONE LITTLE MONSTER

Name: ONE LITTLE MONSTER
Author: Mark Gonyea
ISBN: 978-1-5344-0674-2

by Mark Gonyea ; illustrated by Mark Gonyea ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 24, 2018

Would that all children could greet their own monsters with this much aplomb.

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What starts as one little monster on a child’s windowsill quickly gets out of hand.

To give credit where it’s due, the child handles the situation with remarkable self-possession. “I’m cozy in bed, and what do I see? // 1 little monster staring at me. / I say to myself, / What harm could it do? / I only blinked once… // But now I see 2!” Page turn by page turn, the monsters continue to add up, gross-out humor arriving with No. 3, a green, mucous-y one sneezed out of monster No. 2, and with No. 5: “One cuts the cheese.” But when the count reaches 10, the monsters have a new look in their eyes and postures: fear. This 10th creature is different from the others, lacking the clean, sharp lines of the rest. In fact, it looks distinctly like a sock puppet with drawn-on, staring eyes and scowling mouth. The clever child gets to enjoy that cozy bed at last…at least until monsters populate dreamland. The bold, simple shapes and bright colors of Gonyea’s digital illustrations are clear when the monsters are few and obviously, uh, monster-shaped. But as the pages fill with oddly shaped blobs, some of which lack even facial features, it becomes increasingly difficult to parse the illustrations, especially when they are close-ups.

Would that all children could greet their own monsters with this much aplomb. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: July 24, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-5344-0674-2

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Aladdin

Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S PARANORMAL & SUPERNATURAL

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SPOOKY BOX
by Mark Gonyea ; illustrated by Mark Gonyea

- BOOK REVIEW
A BOOK ABOUT COLOR
by Mark Gonyea & illustrated by Mark Gonyea

- BOOK REVIEW
ANOTHER BOOK ABOUT DESIGN
by Mark Gonyea & illustrated by Mark Gonyea

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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)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
A PERFECT PLACE TO PLAY
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Jim Valeri

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2024

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

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A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.

Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)