Monster Needs His Sleep

PreS-K—In this second installment of the series, the vibrant palette and illustration style reminiscent of Saturday morning cartoons continues to appeal. The monster is Sendakian in spirit, but slicker, more lively, less pensive. It is a typical role reversal set-up: the little boy is parent to Monster, and he tries to get him to sleep, while Monster cooks up a multitude of ideas to avoid doing just that. Might he be scared of the dark? On each dynamic page, readers will find lots of verve, action, and energy, with saturated colors and deep purples, as it gets later and later. Most of the action takes place in Monster's bedroom, decorated with boy-themed paraphernalia: robots, rockets, marine animals, and pirates. The verse gets a bit pedantic: "Monster, here's some water/Now please stop procrastinating/It's time to close your eyes and sleep/No more negotiating." The colorful computer-rendered illustrations are extremely appealing to today's media-saturated kids. Nevertheless, it falls short of being a game changer. Amanda Noll's I Need My Monster (Flashlight, 2009) and Lauren Child's I Am Not Sleepy and I Will Not Go to Bed (Candlewick, 2001) have similar themes.—Sara Lissa Paulson, The American Sign Language and English Lower School, New York City