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Harry and the Monster ISBN: 9781848952997
East, Nick and Mongredien, Sue
Published by Little Tiger Press, 2014
On a Monday night, Harry has a dream about a scary, purple monster and he shouts 'Aargh!' and wakes up his parents. On Tuesday night he doesn't want to go to bed, afraid the monster might return, but his mum suggests he might imagine some pink pants on the monster's head and this should make it less scary. As the monster is made cross by the pink pants, this doesn't work. On it goes through the week with Harry having good dreams that the monster always spoils by breaking in on them. His exhausted parents suggest various options, but the 'Aargh' always returns each night. Dad finally comes up with the solution: monsters don't like cross mummies, so Harry should imagine his mum in his dream confronting the monster with his misdoings; it works a treat! Lots of repetition and integrated text in different sizes help make this funny as well as to the point, and while the monster is certainly big and scary in the beginning, he becomes a pussy cat after mum gets hold of him. He and Harry become friends and dreams hold no more fears. I'm not sure that one can control one's dreams like this, but it makes for a funny story that might help kids discover that monsters aren't really scary after all.
Age: 3+