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Summary
Summary
In this newest picture book by beloved storyteller and collage artist Elisa Kleven, a young girl describes for her new neighbor -- a boy who loves to play monster -- the real monster living in her house. As she tells it, the monster screams and roars if she and her parents don't pay attention to him every single second; he drinks special monster milk and eats special monster food that he squeezes through his hands like finger paint; he spits up on everyone and everything -- and that's only the half of it! Listening to her tale, the fascinated boy imagines all sorts of wonderfully horrible things -- until he finds out, in a delightful surprise ending, who the monster really is.
Elisa Kleven has found a hilarious way to appeal to her young fans. Readers and listeners (especially those with younger siblings) will begin to guess who the monster is and will relish in the girl's icky yet matter-of-fact descriptions. All will enjoy the marvelous visualizations of her imaginative new friend. Elisa Kleven's sparkling collage artwork, and her storytelling, have the same ability as a child's imagination to transform the everyday into the humorous, fantastic, and magical.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-The age-old subject of a new baby in the house is deftly handled in this winning combination of lively art and childlike text. The story begins as a young girl observes a new family moving in next door and spies a potential playmate in a boy attired in a monster costume. In response to a query from her new neighbor about playing monster with him, she answers, "Not at my house-the real monster's sleeping." Thus, the girl's web of hyperbole and deception captures the imagination of her new friend. The boy's initial interest changes to horrified fascination as his new friend describes a roaring, messy, drooling, poopy, hair-pulling creature that spits up everywhere and sucks on everything. The illustrations are the author's trademark blend of bright paintings and mixed-media collage. Varied layouts are particularly effective in conveying the mood of the story as smaller images early in the narrative give way to larger spreads as the boy imagines all manner of monster mayhem. The beast reaches delightfully horrible and gargantuan proportions until it's revealed that he is actually little, soft, and cuddly. The cherubic infant is introduced as he is greeted by his older sister with an affectionate, "Hi, monster." This charming twist on a popular subject is appropriate for both lap and group sharing.-Rosalyn Pierini, San Luis Obispo City-County Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this chipper picture book, a girl welcomes a new kid to the neighborhood by regaling him with tales of the monster who lives in her house. She paints a gooey picture of a creature who yells for "special monster milk and smushed-up bananas" and smears his food on everything he touches. He spits up, drools and sucks his toes, too. After spinning a sufficiently captivating yarn, the girl comes clean about the monster's true identity: it's her messy and demanding (but much-loved) baby brother. Kleven (The Puddle Pail) honestly portrays the mixed feelings of affection and annoyance that siblings often have for one another, and her playful descriptions and teasing tone depict realistic exchanges between two new friends. The monster's appearance changes in the boy's imagination as the girl offers more details, but Kleven keeps up the suspense, with the visual revelation of the infant sibling only at story's end. She incorporates yarn, fabric and torn- and cut-paper accents into her pencil-and-gouache illustrations; the effect is a cheerful hodgepodge of color and texture, much like the pleasant disorder that children bring to a household. Ages 4-8. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
When a monster-loving boy moves in, his neighbor tells him all about the monster in her house. The boy's hilarious visions--pictured in the detailed, colorful collage illustrations--carry the story until he finally learns the real monster is her baby brother. Older siblings who have a love-hate relationship with a baby will relish the realistic descriptions. From HORN BOOK Spring 1999, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Kleven (The Puddle Pail, 1997, etc.) offers up a kid's-eye perspective on the amazing tumult created by a baby in the house. A young girl regales her new neighbor, who is wearing his favorite monster suit, with tales of the monster that resides in her home. Her stories of a food-guzzling, attention-demanding, mess-making creature liberate the boy's imagination, reflected in the illustrations. Kleven adeptly magnifies the chaotic qualities of babies to a comical degree; as the true nature of the monster is revealed, as well as the girl's affection for him, the boy's imaginings of a formidable beast gradually evolve into the picture of small, smiling baby monster. Patches of text, appearing at angles and in different colors to represent the various speakers, successfully convey the rhythm of conversation. The scenes are busy and invite discovery: a monster mobile above the crib, the ``Vitamin M monster milk, certified impure,'' and the ``Monster Muck Remover'' for diaper changes. The vivid drawings are overlaid with a variety of collage materials, such as yarn hair for the monster's body, bits of doilies for curtains, marbled paper for wood veneers. A wondrously silly tall tale with grandly domestic origins; expect laughter as readers grasp the truth of the monster's identity. (Picture book. 4-8)
Booklist Review
Ages 4-7. As a child melodramatically describes the roaring, drooling, spectacularly messy monster in her house, her awed new neighbor conjures up an appropriately monstrous image of the creature: in Kleven's painted, luxuriantly detailed collages, a tubby, peg-toothed giant covered in glued bits of blue, yellow, and orange yarn cuts swaths of chaos through magnificently cluttered rooms. It won't take alert children long to catch on: "What does he yell for? . . . special monster milk--and smushed up bananas with mashed-up prunes," but the credulous neighbor begins to doubt only after he learns that the "monster" is little, soft, and bald. The all-dialogue text, suspended at angles within or alongside illustrations, changes color as the speaker changes, and reads like a play script, suggesting a possible way of presenting this cheery story. Children will relish the joke and find plenty of detail and side business to linger over in the pictures, too. (Reviewed October 1, 1998)0525459731John Peters