BIG SCARY MONSTER

Big Scary Monster, a square of blue hair with large hands and googly eyes, lives on a mountaintop. He knows he’s the largest, scariest creature around. He likes to hide, and when the little animals who live around him least expect it, he leaps out to holler BOO! Soon the little animals learn to hide, and BSM gets bored without anyone to scare. He spies more little creatures down in the valley, but something strange happens on his way down: The rocks and plants get larger the farther he goes. In the valley, the animals are huge! When he least expects it, the boulder he’s hiding behind (a rabbit) turns to holler BOO! He returns home scared, sad and lonely...thank goodness, the little creatures know just what a bummed-out BSM needs. Brit Docherty, shortlisted for the Greenaway Medal last year, offers this traditional turnabout tale with added monster silliness. The cartoon watercolor-and-ink illustrations never approach scary. Best read to younger, less-questioning, more-elastic minds; older audiences will wonder just what gives with the odd shift in perspective. (Picture book. 2-4)