The Essential Worldwide Monster Guide [Hardcover]

Linda Ashman (Author), David Small (Illustrator)

Book Description

Dear Traveler:

Say you're sailing in the south,
Or hiking in the east.
Your holiday's delightful --
Till you meet a pesky beast.

What now?
Should you ignore it?
Offer presents?
Run and hide?

Don't make a costly blunder --
Take our handy monster guide!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

As you travel around the world, from South America to Australia and back, you never know what types of mischievous spirits or monsters you might encounter. The Essential Worldwide Monster Guide issues helpful advice for the international traveler who comes face-to-fang with beast, troll, or hotot. As the playful poet Linda Ashman cautions, "The hotot will lurk in the muckiest murk,/ Devising unpleasant surprises./ Don't fall for his charm. Don't reach for his arm./ Get wise to the hotot's disguises." Sage, indeed. The guidebook further warns that "Hotots are evil spirits found in Armenian swamps and rivers. They try to fool their victims by appearing as pleasant, dancing creatures, but always have swamp-muck on their clothes." If you want to know where Armenia is, let alone a hotot, a handy world map on the inside cover provides a legend showing the 13 countries and/or continents mentioned and the monsters that inhabit them. Caldecott artist David Small (So You Want to Be President) is as at ease with the mythical as the political. His wonderful depictions of Scandinavian trolls and tourists, the sleek and scary sirens of Greece, the ten-headed Ravana of India, and the gentle but highly unkissable Ki-lin of China ("Temper your exuberance! Note the sharp protuberance!") are truly fabulous. Highly recommended. (Ages 6 and older) --Karin Snelson

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-5-Ashman delivers delightful verses cautioning of creepy creatures from many cultures. The Greek Sirens are introduced in "Forgo This Show!": "Critics say:/'Haunting!'/'Hypnotic!'/'A smash!'/The fans come in droves/(And depart with a splash!)/Cover your ears,/or cling to the mast-/This one night of music/Could well be your last!" Not every creature here is technically a monster, yet Ashman provides due warning to travelers of, for instance, the virtuous Ki-Lin from China who is a composite of a deer, a lion, and a unicorn: "If-enchanted by its grace-/You feel the urge to kiss its face,/Temper your exuberance!/Note the sharp protuberance!" The poems are well served, not surprisingly, by Small's energetic and wacky watercolors that fill each spread. His combination of warm, light textures and vivid, thick lines or pockets of color anchor each composition, so that the poem and the subject of the illustration work as complementary foci on the page. A smaller text box at the bottom of each spread gives a brief description of the depicted beasts. With this beautifully designed volume full of enchanting and excellent verse, Ashman takes her place with Jack Prelutsky, J. Patrick Lewis, Douglas Florian, and the like, as an accomplished poet who will be well appreciated by young readers.
Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books; 1st edition (September 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689826400
• ISBN-13: 978-0689826405
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,490,536 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Linda Ashman's books have been named to the "best of the year" lists of the New York Times, Parenting Magazine, Child Magazine, New York Public Library, the Bank Street College of Education, the IRA/CBC and more. Her poetry and rhyming picture books have been called "as pithy and clever as Ogden Nash at his best" (Kirkus), and reminiscent of Mary Ann Hoberman, Douglas Florian and Jack Prelutsky.

Linda lives in Colorado with her husband, Jack Hicks, their son Jackson, and their two dogs. Visit www.lindaashman.com for more information.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun, April 6, 2004

By 

Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Essential Worldwide Monster Guide (Hardcover)

This fun little book is meant for young readers. Each of the thirteen "monsters" is given two (facing) brightly illustrated pages, with some cute text arranged in rhyming form. Really, the book shows two children and their dog, as they travel around the world meeting a fantastic creature from every continent. This is a really fun book to share with the young reader in your life. Or, as in my case, it's a fun book to share with your too-young to read child - I have found that rhyming makes books lots of fun for little ones. Anyway, we highly recommend this book to you!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For kids who really like monsters, March 2, 2004

By 

Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Essential Worldwide Monster Guide (Hardcover)

This book is a rhyming field guide to monsters from around the world. Each monster gets a two-page spread with a humorous rhyming description and a small box with some additional concise information. The book also includes a global map showing the home locations of each of the monsters The book is suitable for kids aged 4-9, depending on how brave they are. Some of the pictures, while comical, arent exactly accurate, like the one showing a moose harnessed to a sled in Eskimo lands. After all, reindeer, not moose, are harnessed to sleds, and only in Scandinavia, not in Greenland. But overall, the book provides an interesting cultural adventure for monster maniacs. It contains about 1200 words.