The Monster at the End of This Book

thumb|right|300px|Celebrity Read-Along
The Monster at the End of This Book was published in 1971 by Golden Press. It was written by Jon Stone and illustrated by Mike Smollin.
In this book, Grover is horrified to learn that there is a monster at the end of the book and begs the reader not to finish it, so as to avoid the monster. He uses several methods to try and keep the reader from progressing, including tying the pages shut and cementing them together with bricks. After each page is turned, the results of the failed effort is shown, and Grover tries a new method to keep the reader from turning yet another page. To the amusement and relief of Grover, the monster at the end of the book turns out to be none other than himself, leaving the latter very embarrassed over what he has just gone through.
In its first year of publication, the book, which is one of the first to star Grover, sold two million copies. According to an internal Children's Television Workshop newsletter, "this figure, according to publishing sources, is an all-time one-year sales record for a single book."Children's Television Workshop Newsletter. Number 27, February 1, 1973.
The book's style, with Grover speaking directly to the reader in comic book-style word balloons, was used in other 1970s and early 1980s Sesame books, including Grover and the Everything in the Whole Wide World Museum (1974), Oscar's Book (1975), Would You Like to Play Hide & Seek in This Book With Lovable, Furry Old Grover? (1976), Big Bird's Red Book (1977) and Lovable Furry Old Grover's Resting Places (1984).
An animated special based on the book, The Monster at the End of This Story, premiered in 2020.
==Sequels and variations==
A sequel, Another Monster at the End of This Book, was published in 1996. It was also written by Stone and illustrated by Smollin, and features Grover and Elmo as the other monster at the end of the book.
A personalized version of the book was released in 2004 by Random House; purchasers could order the book with a personalized dedication page.
In 2006, Random House published an "interactive" version of the book, Please Do Not Open this Book!, which included moving parts and flaps.
On January 30, 2013, Sesame Street's official Twitter feed was taken over by Grover, who is told there's a monster at the end of the Twitter conversation, with a blacked out photo of Grover slowly being revealed with each tweet. The conversation included a shout-out from Grover to actor Wil Wheaton who retweeted and commented on the live-stream of tweets.'Sesame Street' and Grover Get Monster Win on Twitter
The 2013 DVD Being Brave is framed with sequences of Grover trying to avoid the "Monster at the End of This Show." The onscreen title and ending text are based directly on those from the book. Some of Grover's dialogue is lifted straight from the original story, adapted by Christine Ferraro. Behind-the-scenes footage of the sequences being filmed was posted on the Sesame Family Robinson blog in July 2011.
In promotion for the 2020 animated special The Monster at the End of This Story, the show's social media accounts shared a video with various celebrity guests reading the original book. Celebrities featured include Kelsea Ballerini, Sofia Carson, Ciara, Stephen and Ayesha Curry, Josh Groban, Mykal-Michelle Harris, Bill Irwin as Mr. Noodle (and his dog Schmoodle), Lil Nas X, Ben Platt, Billy Porter, Maggie Rogers, Jordin Sparks, Hailee Steinfeld, Jason Sudeikis, Jonathan Van Ness, and Olivia Wilde.
Also in 2020, a Sesame Street Magna-Tiles building set was released based on elements from the book.
Anothermonster-lgb.jpg|Another Monster at the End of This Book
2004ReissuePersonalizedCopyCoupon.jpg|Personalized version
Book.pleasedonotopen.jpg|Please Do Not Open this Book!
The Monster at the End of This Sound Book 01.jpg|The Monster at the End of This Sound BookSeptember 8, 2020Phoenix InternationalISBN 978-1503756649
==Reissues==
Image:Monster1999jellybean.jpg|1999Random HouseJellybean BooksISBN 0375804013
Image:Monster2000boardbk.jpg|2000Random HouseBig Bird's Favorites Board BooksISBN 0375805613
Image:Monster-end-of-book.jpg|2003Random HouseA Little Golden BookISBN 0307010856
Image:Monster2004biglgb.jpg|2004Random HouseA Big Little Golden BookISBN 037582913X
Image:Monsterendofbookdvd.jpg|2009Hinkler BooksStory VisionISBN 1741812224
Monster_at_the_end_of_this_book_kit.jpg|2017Running Pressmini book kit, packaged with a plush Grover backpack clip
50Years-MonsterBook.jpg|2019SFI Readerlink DistISBN 0794440231
Monster at End BN edition.jpg|2019B&N exclusiveRandom HouseISBN 9780375979552
File:Monsters at the End of this Book.jpg|2020Random HouseThe Monster at the End of This Book and Another Monster at the End of This Book 2-in-1ISBN 9780593177815
File:Kohls Cares Monster at the End of this Book.jpg|Kohl's Cares exclusiveRandom House
==Animation and eBooks==
In 2009, Hinkler Books released the book with a StoryVision DVD adaptation of the book. Grover (Eric Jacobson) narrates the story as a child's hand (played by Edward Dix) turns the pages. Smollin's original art inspired the animation by Neil Goodridge. It also featured some old music cues from the first few seasons of Sesame Street by Joe Raposo.
On December 7, 2009, Sesame Workshop released the book as an audio-enabled free eBook with highlights. It was also narrated by Jacobson as Grover, and recycled the audio from the StoryVision DVD adaptation."Sesame Workshop Plans Children's E-Books", The Wall Street Journal. December 7, 2009.
In 2010, iTunes released a special animated version of the book for iPad. Like the StoryVision DVD adaptation of the book from 2009, this version is once again narrated by Eric Jacobson as the voice of Grover.
In 2012, Amazon Digital Services released a Kindle edition of the book.
Monster-end-book-dvd.jpg|DVD screenshot
TheMonsterattheendofThisBookEbookscreenshot1.jpg|eBook screenshot
TheMonsterattheendofThisBookEbookscreenshot2.jpg|eBook screenshot
TheMonsterattheendofthisbookIpadversion2.jpg|iPad screenshot
TheMonsterattheendofthisbookIpadversion4.jpg|iPad screenshot
TheMonsterattheEndofThisBook2012KindleEdition.jpg|Kindle screenshot
==Translations==
Image:Grovermonsterboek.jpg|The Netherlands
Image:The monster at the end of this book hebrew.jpg|Israel
==Reviews==
::-- David Sornig, Wordsville Book Tweep, October 23, 2009
==References==
*In a 2010 appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Super Grover 2.0 jumped underneath Fallon's desk after seeing the title of the book, as "that book makes [him] very scared!"
*Grover once Tweeted about a monster at the end of his tweet.
*On January 30, 2013, Grover took over the Sesame Street Twitter account to tweet about "a Monster at the end of this Twitter conversation." He pleaded with followers not to re-tweet or respond to the posts in fear of revealing the monster at the end. Grover even engaged with Wil Wheaton who retweeted and responded to several of the tweets. As with the original book, the monster at the end turned out to be Grover himself. (Tweets)
===Cultural references===
* The Johnny Bravo episode "The Hunk at the End of this Cartoon" parodies this book.
* In a 2010 episode of The Electric Company, Lisa is seen reading a copy of the book to some kids.
==Sources==
==External links==
* "Monster at End of Book Claims Life of TV's Grover", The Onion. June 2, 1999.
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Category:Sesame Street Books
Category:Little Golden Books
Category:Grover Books
Category:Jellybean Books
Category:Big Bird's Favorites
Category:Sound Books
Category:Companion DVD
Category:Running Press
Category:Storybook Video