A cuddly tool to help children build positive associations around bedtime and mitigate common fears.
A cozy bedtime story and accompanying plush toy allow families to reframe the narrative of nighttime monsters.
After humans have gone to bed, nocturnal Monster awakens as guardian over the household. Monster monitors the night light, keeps an eye on shadows and an ear out for things that go bump, and chases away scary things under the bed. As Monster amuses the other toys with a bedtime story and other games, young readers can enact the scenario with the toy Monster and their other bedroom friends. Readers can also connect and expand upon Monster’s solo evening adventures, which include partaking in midnight snacking and having a bathroom accident. The narrative encourages questioning, offers affirmations, and invites interaction with a repeated refrain: “And then what did Monster do?” A starry-night theme carries throughout the pages of the book and onto the box containing the plush toy, which also contains a guide for grown-ups for further enrichment tips in how to reduce nighttime anxieties. Specific suggestions include having grown-up and child agree to Monster’s evening placement and the child’s setting Monster’s bedtime routine in the morning. Grown-ups can also encourage a child to talk through their worries and fears with Monster and think of suggestions for working through them. Book and toy are not sold separately.
A cuddly tool to help children build positive associations around bedtime and mitigate common fears. (Guide for grown-ups.) (Picture book & plush toy. 3-6)Pub Date: June 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-970147-05-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Fans of the series will delight in seeing these favorites again, and Girl and Dragon should win some new ones.
A young girl and a dragon take their sweet friendship on an adventure.
After sharing the beginning and deepening of their friendship in Lovabye Dragon (2012) and Evermore Dragon (2015), Joosse puts this twosome on a journey to the high seas. Girl, forever sleeping in her same bed, dreams of sailing away. Dragon, snug in his lair, dreams of sailing with Girl. “Sometimes when friends share a heart / they dream the same thing, apart.” So they pack a wicker basket, a spyglass, and a banner and wave goodbye. The ocean provides plenty of interest with dolphins, whales, and Bad Hats with ratty beards (depicted as Vikings who differ only in the amount of their facial hair). There’s also a cat. The dreamy, highly textured oil pictures by Cecil in his signature palette of gentle grays, greens, and blues make the transition from land to sea seamlessly. With a tender nod to “The Owl and the Pussycat,” the scenery is full of diversions while the clever rhyming verse full of wordplay drifts the story farther from Home. The hazy images allow young minds to see this tiny princess with dark hair as racially ambiguous. As in many famous stories, one must leave home to find home, which is the same for these two loving friends. “With Dragon as boat / and Girl as crew / there was nothing—nothing—they couldn’t do!”
Fans of the series will delight in seeing these favorites again, and Girl and Dragon should win some new ones. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7313-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
A beguiling read-aloud for more than princess-and-dragon lovers.
The comforting friendship between a young girl and an enormous dragon deepens.
In Lovabye Dragon (2012), Joosse shared a hopeful tale of sweet friendship between an unlikely pair. Moving on from the first book, the friendship continues to grow here with an innocent game of hide-and-seek. Doesn’t Girl see the dragon hiding behind a very small rock? Both children and adults reading this story will chuckle, though for slightly different reasons. The two friends delight in their togetherness. When Girl takes her turn to hide, she runs to a faraway hidey-hole and becomes lost in the night, separated from Dragon. “But she cried silver tears / worry worry tears / and her heart thumped a sound / a trem-below sound / that only Dragon friends, / very very special friends, can hear.” So summoned, the distressed Dragon flies to her rescue: “I am here,” he rumbles; Girl whispers, “You’re a dear.” Although the theme of rescue seems similar to the first title, the thoughtfully constructed, rhythmic text sprinkled with clever neologisms moves the action forward, while the comforting palette of hazy grays, blues, and browns keeps the distress minimal. The teary and frightened Girl shines in her starlike yellow gown, muted yet hope-filled on the dreamy pages.
A beguiling read-aloud for more than princess-and-dragon lovers. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6882-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: April 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2015
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