Monster & Son

February 1, 2016
Sly interplay between sweet-natured verse and not-so-sweet-natured activities provide mischievous laughs in this monster-themed ode to children from their parents. The parents in question are mythical and supernatural creatures—including ghosts, werewolves, vampires, etc.—that Chou (the B. Bear and Lolly series) renders as simultaneously adorable and destructive in crisp digital artwork with a subdued, creamy palette. The innocuousness of LaRochelle’s (Moo!) gentle rhymes contrasts delightfully with the havoc being wrought. “You woke me with a monstrous roar, my brave and fearless son,” he writes as a dinosaurlike creature smashes a city to bits with his excited morning energy (his parent lies sleeping atop another city across the bay). After a page turn, the rhyme completes (“and led the way that filled our day with rough and rowdy fun”) as sea serpents toss a beach ball back and forth, causing sailboats to founder and sink. A Frankensteinian monster tickles its son with surplus severed hands, dragon laughter sets a castle ablaze, helicopters are tossed asunder; when parents love their child, LaRochelle suggests, nothing else matters. Ages 2–4. Illustrator’s agent: Kirsten Hall, Catbird Agency.

April 1, 2016
Monster parents aren't all that different from human ones. Each digitally rendered spread portrays a different type of monster, but collectively, they tell the tale of a day spent together. A Godzilla-like child wakes the parent "with a monstrous roar," and it's nonstop action from then on: from catch and tag (skeletons) and tickle fights (Frankenstein's monsters) to running and fishing (creatures from the black lagoon) and noise-making (ghosts--each with four eyes). "The secret hideout that we built / was awesome to behold. // My face turned red with laughter / from the silly jokes you told." Two bigfoots grab a snack (much to two campers' dismay), and a wolf parent with two cubs observe the rising moon (and a girl in a red cape). A mummy parent chases the child into bed, a colossal ape gives hugs (a real helicopter clutched in the child's hand like a toy), and a vampire bat gently folds the child's wings. The creepy and silly balance each other out, though readers will likely agree that being a human in this monster world might be precarious. Though the title indicates that this is a book about monster dads and their sons, nothing in the illustrations spells out gender, and the text, first person from the parent's point of view, says "son" only once (and though that is a necessary word for the end rhyme, it could so easily be changed to "one"). Monstrous good fun to share with your own favorite beast. (Picture book. 4-7)

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July 1, 2016
In each of fourteen spreads, a monstrous parent-son pair (e.g., skeleton, ghost, yeti) whoop it up at a shared activity (baseball, instrument playing, igloo making) until it's time for bed. The rhymes are airtight, and the chunky digital illustrations in somber colors convey species-neutral love as well as delectable danger (note Red Riding Hood unknowingly walking past some tree-sitting beasts).

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)