Maddie's Monster Dad

K-Gr 2—Maddie and her father love to do scary things (no mention of mom). They play Hide-and-Eek, bake Glob cookies, and draw scary monster pictures. However, Dad has been too busy lately to play, so the child decides to create her own Monster Dad, using her new Build-a-Beast kit. After cutting, pasting, taping, and coloring her creation, she claps together two cutouts of lightning bolts and the monster comes alive. And he is HUGE. They can't play Hide-and-Eek, because he is too big to hide. And his cookies are hard as rocks. He can't draw; he only scribbles. When they decide to wrap themselves in toilet paper and scare her real dad, Monster Dad dissolves into a toy monster. But, as luck would have it, Dad decides to take a break from his work to play with Maddie. When he says no to her request for a puppy, she hauls out her Build-a-Beast kit again. The green-tinged illustrations on spacious white backgrounds are just right. Everything seems scary but not frightening. Maddie and her father have pinking-sheared bangs, Maddie has sneakers that growl and howl, and the monster drawings they make are really funnier than scary. The text and illustrations work together like Boris and Karloff, and the layouts are inspired (some are done from a ghostly viewpoint, flying above the scene below).—Mary Hazelton, Elementary Schools in Warren & Waldoboro, ME