Review: Extremely Well Written With A Sweet Message for Children
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 28, 2013
I think most children go through phases of fear of monsters. Clearly, no one has found an easy or effective methodology of assuaging their fears, but this one just might do it!It's in first person, and the storyteller is a young girl, Rachel. She speaks in rhymes, which is always a good way to keep the short attention span of the target listener/reader engaged. The rhymes are well done, and they are paged so you want to know the next rhyming word--again, well constructed to entice the listener to want to hear, read, and see more.The illustrations are well done overall, but the actual monster illustrations are extremely well done. There is a large variety that can be shown to the child. At least one or two are very likely to match his or her vision of what they consider a monster to look like. None of them are scary; they are all friendly looking monsters.Instead of exhibiting fear, Rachel allows the monsters to join her in night time play, with conditions. It's a brilliant theme. Rather than the typical unsuccessful pleas that either there are no monsters or that the monsters won't hurt, Rachel attempts to control their activities and joins in playing with them. She becomes friends with them under her terms.This book is much more than one more to add to a collections of children's books. It's an investment in placation, and offers peace and a good night's sleep to your scared child or grandchild. It's a great read for adults too, and in my opinion that is the true test of a quality children's book. Thank you for this one. Highly recommended.