The I Am Reading: Perfect Monster - Softcover

Kindergarten-Grade 2–Mungus Bigfoot is the perfect monster from birth, screaming, biting, and weeing on his mother. Because of his abilities, the Head Monster at school asks him to help Emily Twinkletoes. Mungus tries, but she continues to sing, smile, and tell the truth. As he tutors her, he becomes kinder and begins to adore Emily just as she is. In turn, she demonstrates terrible behavior to keep him out of trouble. Of course, the plot is stereotypical–naughty boy meets nice girl and changes for her because she has touched his true self. Definitions of bad and good are reversed in this setting, but Pat Hutchins's The Very Worse Monster (1985) and Where's the Baby? (1999, both HarperCollins) are much better presentations of the same idea. Watercolor cartoons offer childlike illustrations in this short, five-chapter book aimed at early independent readers. While the text serves up good practice for children learning to read, it won't satisfy students looking for a good, scary book. With pages sprinkled with stars, flowers, and pleasing pastel colors, it's more of a humorous look at how people influence one another in a relationship and an examination of naughty behavior.–Erlene Bishop Killeen, Fox Prairie Elementary School, Stoughton, WI
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