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THE MONSTER ABOVE THE BED

Name: THE MONSTER ABOVE THE BED
Author: Kailei Pew
ISBN: 9780063271326

by Kailei Pew ; illustrated by Steph Lew ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 24, 2023

A fun look at monsters above and below the bed.

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A typical childhood fear turns out to be true…sort of.

Blossom is an adorable tot convinced that a monster that lives above her bed causes the creaks, rattles, and grunts she hears each night. Readers will be delighted at Blossom’s appearance: She has turquoise fur, tiny orange horns, one giant eye, and rosy cheeks…she’s a “monster” herself. When her parents fail to find or even hear anything unusual in her room, Blossom takes matters into her own hands. Collecting the gear she needs and climbing through her window, she emerges from under a bed, only to be caught by the “monster,” a human child with brown skin and a dark ponytail. The child unlocks the trap, and Blossom escapes, but now she has a new theory to test. Armed with a pencil, notebook, and camera, she spies on the “monster” and comes to the realization that it’s not a monster but a friend above her bed, and the two have great fun together. While the bright digital illustrations are a joy, they also may raise questions, since Blossom and the human are about the same size: Where’s the window to Blossom’s room, and how does all that fit under the human’s bed? Regardless, this is a welcome addition to the canon of books exploring this popular childhood fear. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A fun look at monsters above and below the bed. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2023

ISBN: 9780063271326

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S PARANORMAL & SUPERNATURAL

- BOOK REVIEW
I SEE COLOR
by Valerie Bolling & Kailei Pew ; illustrated by Laylie Frazier

- BOOK REVIEW
KID-VENTORS
by Kailei Pew ; illustrated by Shannon Wright

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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IMANI'S MOON

by JaNay Brown-Wood ; illustrated by Hazel Mitchell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 14, 2014

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child...

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Imani endures the insults heaped upon her by the other village children, but she never gives up her dreams.

The Masai girl is tiny compared to the other children, but she is full of imagination and perseverance. Luckily, she has a mother who believes in her and tells her stories that will fuel that imagination. Mama tells her about the moon goddess, Olapa, who wins over the sun god. She tells Imani about Anansi, the trickster spider who vanquishes a larger snake. (Troublingly, the fact that Anansi is a West African figure, not of the Masai, goes unaddressed in both text and author’s note.) Inspired, the tiny girl tries to find new ways to achieve her dream: to touch the moon. One day, after crashing to the ground yet again when her leafy wings fail, she is ready to forget her hopes. That night, she witnesses the adumu, the special warriors’ jumping dance. Imani wakes the next morning, determined to jump to the moon. After jumping all day, she reaches the moon, meets Olapa and receives a special present from the goddess, a small moon rock. Now she becomes the storyteller when she relates her adventure to Mama. The watercolor-and-graphite illustrations have been enhanced digitally, and the night scenes of storytelling and fantasy with their glowing stars and moons have a more powerful impact than the daytime scenes, with their blander colors.

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child to be admired. (Picture book. 5-8)