Reviews by Bob Walch

Monsters Eat Whiny Children (Simon & Schuster, 40 pages, ages 4-8, $15.99), by Bruce Eric Kaplan

Henry and Eve are whiners. That’s all they seem to do. Day after day the whining continues until finally their father warns the children that monsters eat whiny children. Of course, Henry and Eve do not believe him.

Then, one day, guess what? Yup, a monster comes and takes them away. The monster takes the brother and sister back to his lair where he intends to make and eat a whiny-child salad. “I don’t like sitting on lettuce,” Henry whines. And his sister chips in, “No wooden bowl!”

At this point this potentially scary story gets rather silly. The monster’s wife doesn’t like the salad dressing he is preparing for his salad. Then a neighbor pops in and suggests they make whiny-child burgers instead. But that means they have to clean the grill. And so it goes on and on.

While the persnickety monsters debate how to prepare the two whiny children, Henry and Eve manage to escape from the household.

At first glance this cautionary tale may seem to be a little too gruesome for a child but, if you live with a whiny little monster, you’ll realize this is a humorous way of getting the point across that whining can be extremely annoying. Kaplan has fun with his topic and his illustrations are so innocuous they won’t give any child nightmares.

Mostly Monsterly (Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster, 40 pages, ages 4-8, $14.99), by Tammi Sauer, illustrated by Scott Magoon

Poor Bernadette. She has pointy ears, huge eyes, fangs, claws, a tail — and she wears a creepy necklace. Bernadette is a little monster and although she growls and can cause all sort of mayhem, underneath the fangs and fur she is a very different little person.

Bernadette likes flowers, enjoys baking cupcakes and loves petting kittens. So, when it comes time to go to the Monster Academy she is a little apprehensive. What would happen when everyone is practicing their monster moves and Bernadette blurts out “Group hug, everybody”?

Or worse yet, during the Creepy Noise Class how would her classmates respond if Bernadette began singing songs like “Love Me Tender”? Hmm, there could be a problem here.

Fortunately, this is a very resourceful little monster and Bernadette comes up with a plan that makes her rather “skeptical” classmates embrace her and her need to be true to herself.

Young readers will love the “monstrous” illustrations of this picture book’s characters — and the positive message that you shouldn’t be afraid to be yourself is one that children can’t hear too early.

Stalling (McElderry Books, 40 pages, ages 3-7, $16.99), by Alan Katz, illustrated by Elwood H. Smith

Silly as it may sound, the child in this book hates to go to bed. So, when he hears his mom say, “You’ve got to go to sleep,” his response is, “Not time for counting sheep. First I got stuff to do!”

He then rambles off a long list of things that need immediate attention. There’s much to do, like visiting the Nile to tame a crocodile and playing hallway soccer. There are crimes to be solved and grand slams to be hit over the outfield wall.

By the time the child has finished listing all the things he must do, his mom has given up and slipped off to bed.

If you have a child who has too much to do at bed time, you’ll have fun reading this humorous picture book to the child. Who knows, the youngster might even get the point and not stall as much, too!