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
A wandering effort, happy but pointless.
The perfect book for kids who love dragons and mild tacos.
Rubin’s story starts with an incantatory edge: “Hey, kid! Did you know that dragons love tacos? They love beef tacos and chicken tacos. They love really big gigantic tacos and tiny little baby tacos as well.” The playing field is set: dragons, tacos. As a pairing, they are fairly silly, and when the kicker comes in—that dragons hate spicy salsa, which ignites their inner fireworks—the silliness is sillier still. Second nature, after all, is for dragons to blow flames out their noses. So when the kid throws a taco party for the dragons, it seems a weak device that the clearly labeled “totally mild” salsa comes with spicy jalapenos in the fine print, prompting the dragons to burn down the house, resulting in a barn-raising at which more tacos are served. Harmless, but if there is a parable hidden in the dragon-taco tale, it is hidden in the unlit deep, and as a measure of lunacy, bridled or unbridled, it doesn’t make the leap into the outer reaches of imagination. Salmieri’s artwork is fitting, with a crabbed, ethereal line work reminiscent of Peter Sís, but the story does not offer it enough range.
A wandering effort, happy but pointless. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 14, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3680-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
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
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