Are you afraid of having a monster under your bed? Read this book and I bet you won't be anymore! I bought this book for my kids and absolutely loved it right away. The main character in this book is a little boy who knows why monsters live under the bed. One day, the boys monster decides to take a vacation, and the boy is left alone in the dark. Over the course of the evening, he is sent several "substitute monsters" but he is not pleased at all. Is he too picky? Has he been spoiled by his monster? Will his monster ever return? You'll have to read it to find out.
The illustrations in this book are excellent. I love how the full page bleeds pull you into the story, and the play of dark in each picture contrasts with the main focal points. There is excellent detail in each picture, right down to the drawings on the boys wall and the stuffed animal in his window sill (all monsters of course!).
There are so many ways you could incorporate this book into a class lesson, especially for a read aloud. First of all it is filled with powerful words, such as quiver, inspection, professional, and ominous, which can be an excellent teaching point for older students. You could model how they can be aware when they read of new and powerful words. Many classrooms have powerful word walls where the class compiles words they find in text. Another way you could use this book as a writing prompt. You could ask students to draw their own monster, and then write about what characteristics the monster has that the boy would like (or not like).
I think the best part of the book is that they boy remains nameless. His monster is called by name over and over, but the fact that the book is written from the first person perspective is fantastic in allowing the reader to feel a part of the story. This would be another fantastic teaching point for students who are learning how to create dialogue in their writing, or a model for how stories can be written from varying perspectives. With the high level of dialogue, this book would be excellent for a readers theatre, and students could have fun creating costumes and voices for their parts.
If you are a parent or a teacher, read this book for yourself, and then read it to your kids and students. It is definitely not a book to be missed!
