MONSTER NEEDS A CHRISTMAS TREE

A little boy narrates the story of how he and the monster who lives at his house spend the day before Christmas together getting ready for the holiday.

The duo live in a snow-covered, suburban house, apparently without any parents around to question the presence of a huge, blue monster with a shock of purple hair. Monster wants to visit Santa with his gift list and then buy a Christmas tree so Santa can place their presents under the tree later that night. After visiting Santa, the two pals spend so much time playing in the snow that all the Christmas trees at the tree lot are already sold by the time of their arrival. They solve their problem by gathering all the house plants at home and forming them into their own sort of Christmas tree, and Santa leaves a requested puppy under the tree for Monster. The illustrations have a dark, nightmarish quality, and Monster seems to be a close relative of Sendak’s Wild Things, with daggerlike claws and sharp teeth—albeit ones that are set in a goofy permanent grin. The rhyming text is serviceable but not without misstep.

Save this for kids who will love Monster’s scary demeanor—there should be many.