BABY MONSTER

A scientist couple decides to make a monster.

Being scientists, in lab coats and all, the two skip the usual method and go the chem-lab route—with the result that, between one page and the next, they have a green, spiky new family member. They then discover that making it was the easy part, since, no surprise, sleepless nights ensue as the little monster proceeds to howl, foul her diapers, and turn meals into messes. And what’s her first word? Barker renders it in her cartoon illustrations as an outsized “$#@*!!” and Pfeiffer skirts the issue with an ungainly rhyme: “Soon the monster began to speak words, / but the first one she said was crude and absurd.” Happily, her next words are “MAMA!” and “DAD!” which makes her parents “feel rad” and propose creating another “monster”…the customary way, perhaps, as a final bedroom scene hints. Though not the first, nor probably dozenth, picture book using the “monster baby” conceit, the point of view is more commonly a sibling’s rather than parental, and even though the diaper-clad creature doesn’t ever look human, younger viewers will easily see through the disguise. The scientist couple is interracial, with a Black-presenting dad and White-presenting mom. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9.1-by-22.4-inch double-page spreads viewed at 66% of actual size.)

Needs better writing and a little more nerve to stand with like-premised outings.