I Need
My
Monster
Author
Amanda
Noll
Illustrator
Howard
McWilliam
2009
Title
Published
I Need My Monster
Medium
Pencil on
paper and
painted
with
digital
acrylic
Style
Peritext
Distinguishing
Traits of the Book
Intriguing
Language
How pictures and
text relate
Fiction/Post
modern
End pages are
cartoon drawings of
different monsters;
Title page has a
great font for word
“MONSTER”;
Lots of description
as he tries to find
the perfect
monster.
Italicized
words;
onomatop
oeia,
Small pictures often
accompany words
and text appears in
colors like green
goo;
Related Books
Charlie’s Checklist;
Monster books
Amanda Noll and Howard McWilliam use humor in both text and illustrations to make this story manageable for young readers. McWilliam
preserves the “scare factor” and allows monsters to be recognizable as scary by including lots of shadows and reactive facial expressions of the
main character. Thoughtful use of round lines and cheerful colors add to the friendliness of the monsters, and it doesn’t hurt that they are
personified with the use of clothing items.
Opportunity for critical literacy: At the 9th opening, the little boy asks, “Are you a girl monster??” When the girl monsters confirms that she is
indeed a girl monster and asks if he has a problem with that fact, he answers, “um, yeah, I do.” He goes on to explain that boy monsters are for
boys, and girl monsters are for girls. I would use this opportunity to ask my class to think about this. Is this necessary? Why did Noll use this text?
Would we change the text to this page spread?
Why Monsters Eat Whiny Children
Published
Author
Medium
Style
Peritext
Distinguishing
Traits of the
Book
Monsters Eat Whiny
Children
Kaplan
Intriguing
Language
“For Pete’s
sake,” she said,
hitting the
neighbor’s
cousin with some
spittle because
she had a saliva
problem.”
2010
Title
Illust
rator
Fiction
Ink and
water
color
Cartoon
End Papers a
timeline;back
cover: The
Crumbs are
the Best part”
Each picture is in
a frame of ink.
Very little
coloring, which is
appealing.
Lots of bold type
for reading with
feeling. Enlarged
print for this
purpose as well.
How pictures and
text relate
Related Books
Pictures break up
flow of print. None
of the characters
are painted. Only
their eyes, mouths
and any props they
may hold. It
appears this is
done to put the
focus on emotion.
There is a bit of gender
stereotyping “bottom too big” to
make cake
The illustrations in this book are primarily black ink highlighted with a white background and sparse use of muted water color. This appears to
direct the reader’s focus to the character’s emotions and their presence in “monster land”. Once they escape, they are back to a colorful world.
This book is reminiscent of why stories with monsters were created: to scare children into obedience.
Activity: Make cucumber sandwiches!
Opportunity for critical literacy: The back cover has some crumbs and the text: “The crumbs were the best part.” I would ask the children what
they thought this meant. Why was this important to be included in the book?
Where the Wild Things Are
Published
Author
Medium
Style
1963
Title
Illust
rator
Where the Wild
Things Are
Sendak
Fiction
Ink and
water
color
Cartoon
Peritext
Cover is a
wraparound of
setting, End
Papers are
somewhat of
an
establishing
shot- leaves
from Where
the Wild
Things Are
Distinguishing
Traits of the
Book
Intriguing
Language
“Oh, please don’t
go—we’ll eat you
up—we love you
so!” is
reminiscent of
Sendak’s
childhood and
his Jewish
relatives that
came for lunches
at his house.
Much of the text
is broken from
page to page
across spreads,
but the pictures
are not.
Gnashed their
terrible teeth
Rumpus
mischief
How pictures and
text relate
Related Books
This is the perfect
example of a
synergistic
relationship
between text and
illustrations. The
pictures do a lot to
enhance details
and offer readers
plenty of
opportunity for
analytic thinking.
The Wild Rumpus
scene is wordless.
Monsters Eat Whiny Children
(both have the element of
children misbehaving)
On the verso of the 13th opening, Sendak positions Max on a hill facing his monsters. He is raising his scepter while the biggest monster of all
bows to him. Sendak even places one monster hiding behind a tree, which gives Max even more power. The monsters have some comical
features (human feet atop a bird’s body), and all have the appearance of a curved, smiling mouth. Their bodies are rounded, and the eyes, even
though they are yellowed, have a large, doe-eyed appearance, which makes them seem less threatening. His color palate is mostly in pastel,
which makes the monsters seem friendly and almost childlike. Sendak does a nice job creating empowerment for Max (and his readers!) with his
artistic portrayal of his monsters.
Leonardo the Terrible Monster
Published
Author/Illus
trator
Medium
Style
Peritext
Distinguishing Traits of
the Book
Intriguing Language
How pictures and
text relate
Related Books
Cartoon
Fiction
Jacket Flap
About the
Author;
Front page
shows the
monster
looking big;
back
looking
unscary
and small
Pastel and minimalist;
Meant to be read
slowly- one small
picture of sam to cover
2 pages! Then there
are 2 full pages of all
caps to read quickly!
Ellipses,
onomatopoeia,
*Little endnotes
for humor
I Need My Monster;
Charlie’s Checklist
2005
Title
Leonardo the Terrible
Monster
Mo Willems
Pencil
and
pixels
On the 7th opening, Willems shows Leonardo trying unsuccessfully to be a scary monster. Leonardo is depicted as small, childlike. Willems’ fine
pencil scratches give Leonardo a frailty not expected from a scary monster. When he tries to scare, Willems makes Leonardo appear comical and
goofy. His horns are tiny and his eyebrows upturned, which makes him seem sad. Willems even gives Leonardo a softened belly and a belly
button, which makes him seem almost toddler-like. Willems’ palate is soft and muted, which sets a calm and not-so-scary mood. On the 19th
opening on the recto side, Willems has Leonardo holding hands with the little boy, and Leonardo’s tail has some movement scribbles. This makes
it look like his tail is wagging much like that of a puppy- man’s best friend.
Creepy Monsters, Sleepy Monsters a lullaby
2. Creepy
Monsters, Sleepy
Monsters- A
lullaby
Author
Jane
Yolen
Illustrator
Kelly
Murphy
Published
Title
Genre
2011
1.
Fiction
Medium
Oil,
Acrylic,
gel on
canvas
Style
Peritext
Distinguishing
Traits of the Book
Intriguing
language
How text and
illustrations relate
Related books
Cartoon
End pages are purple
like dusk; Title Page,
front matter,
dedication pageestablishing shot;
Monsters doing all
the things that
people do- only in
their monster ways;
Many double page
spreads
Rhyming; ellipses,
onomatopoeia,
Words are
separated to
provide the rhythm;
Goodnight Moon;
Other monster
books;
Kelly Murphy’s illustrations for the cover of this book provides readers with a different perspective- a monster clutching his “lovey” being
frightened by what looks to be a younger sibling. The monsters in this book are created suing curved, thin lines, and they are all doing regular
things that kids do: play, go to school, come home, eat dinner… The monster mama, even though she has 4 eyes, is drawn soft and shapely with
a smile mothers show their monster children. Her eyelashes provide a motherly touch. Murphy has the younger sibling making the foreboding
shadows with her hands, which takes the mystery (and the scare) out of it for the reader.
Ten Little Mummies
Ten Little
Mummies –An
Egyptian
Counting book
Philip
Yates
Illustrator
G. Brian
Karas
Published
Author
Genre
2003
Title
Fiction
Medium
Pencil
and Water
Color
Style
Cartoon
Peritext
Endpapers- Facts
about Egypt; Title
page with fake
hieroglyphics;
Distinguishing
Traits of book
Muted colors;
Subtracting and
adding
Intriguing
language
Rhyming
How text and
illustrations relate
Related books
Some colored
words and
numerals
Other counting
books; friendly
monster books;
Mummy
books;books about
Egypt
Karas creates lively characters out of something usually thought of as deathly and scary- Mummies! The eighth opening has a full page spread of
a mummy so cute that some friendly baboons want to adopt him. The mummies are drawn simply with scratchy pencil and small eyes that are
sweet, not creepy. They have friendly smiles and belong to a familial group that are doing things that children love to do: play. Even in their
tomb, Karas draws them with smiles and holding hands, which makes them seem friendly.
Activity- Have children identify a creature that is typically scary. Using Karas’ technique, find 10 “unscary” activities that creature could do. Then
have them make a counting book that could be shared with the class or younger buddies. To add a challenge, the pages could be subtraction
word problems.
Monster Mama
Illustrator
Published
Author
Genre
Medium
Style
Peritext
Distinguishing
Traits of book
1993
Title
Monster Mama
Liz
Rosen
berg
Stephen
Gammell
Fiction
Acrylic –
splatter
and drip
painting?
Cartoon/sur
realish?
Endpapers dark like
inside of her cave
Very bright and
cheerful colors,
whimsical splatters
and dripping of
paints
Intriguing
language
How text and
illustrations relate
Related books
“Always use your
powers for good,
never for evil.”
This is a
distinguishing
quote one would
not expect from a
monster.
The illustrations do
not show her face
to others except for
her son until he is
bullied, and she
confronts the
bullies- she never
wants to scare
others, but she is
willing to show
herself to defend
her boy. Anger is
shown by splatter
paints and dark
spots.
Old, Black Fly
On recto of the 14th opening, Gammell’s illustrations show Monster Mama embracing her son, Patrick Edward. Even though she has wild hair and
a bulbous head, Patrick Edward allows his mother to pull him into a close hug. Gammell’s drawings feel whimsical and warm with his bright,
cheerful colors. He draws her cave using dark colors, but the house is lively and cheerful. One the 7th opening, Gammell gives us our first visual of
Monster Mama’s face. He has made her face looking much like a child’s with soft features and a upturned mouth. This is paired with unruly
fingernails and hair, but the softness of her face overrules these features against the dark cave.
There’s a Nightmare in My Closet
There’s a
Nightmare in My
Closet
Illustrator
Published
Author
Genre
1968
Title
Mercer
Mayer
Mercer
Mayer
Fiction
Medium
Ink and
Water
color?
Style
Cartoon
Peritext
Distinguishing
Traits of book
Vignette on front
jacket flap of little boygives the reader some
character reference.
Scratchy ink and
use of muted water
color; many
different types of
page spreads:
framed, small
frames, full page
and spreads
Intriguing
language
How text and
illustrations relate
Related books
Little boy is very
much in control
speaking to
monster like a
parent would to a
child.
The monster points
to the closet as if
he knows
something is wrong
signaling to reader
that something else
may lurk in the
closet.
There’s a Witch
Under the Stairs
Mayer uses a variety of facial expressions in his illustrations to empower the little boy. His eyebrows are often furrowed, which makes him look
angry and unafraid. The monster, however, is often shown bawling with lids down turned, which make him look afraid and not in control. The
monster is illustrated with funny polka dots and has two square teeth, which make him look funny and not at all scary. Mayer draws the monster
cuddled up in bed with the little boy, allowing the reader to infer that this monster is definitely not scary!