Customer Reviews

The Monster Trap

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"The Monster Trap" is an adorable book that deserves to be read by more kids. The artwork is so cute and the 'monsters' positively sweet; just the sort of thing that might convince a small child that they want to meet 'monsters' instead of avoiding them.

The story begins when a young boy named Paddy visits his Grandfather, who lives over a shop which looks like an antique store. Together they listen to a radio show called "Monster Radio Theater". This gets Paddy's imagination working overtime and in response to his fears, his grandfather creates a trap. When the first trap fails, he builds another. And low and behold -- and much to Grandfather's surprise -- they catch some monsters. Well... not exactly catch. For you see, the contraption they built is more like a monster playground.

This book is a Good Read-aloud, and just the thing to take the edge off of nighttime fear. Do check it out.

a Pam T mini review
(booksforkids-reviews)

My 5 year old sons loves this book, but I must say that some of the other children I have read this book to didn't like it and made them think too much about monsters. My son doesn't get freaked out easily and can appreciate a book with a lot of imagination. The grandfather helps his grandson build a monster trap after hearing a "Monster Theatre show" on an old time radio. Each night they find no monsters so each night they find more stuff laying around the shop to improve on the monster trap, until there is a wonderful monster trap and lots of monsters. Not a real long story, around 25 pages of reading and a sentence to a small paragraph per page. Illustrations are very nice. A lot to talk about.

I credit this book with transforming my sons fear of monsters to actually loving them. He now even has an imaginary friend that is a monster! That particular monster now guards under his bed, so he can sleep. In addition to my son, I also loved the book. Imagination abounds!

this book is so appealing I could read it over and over. always something new to point out to a child. JK

This is a great book for children who are curious about monsters but aren't really afraid of them; even if they're a little afraid, this book is very good with making monsters seem silly. My 2 year old daughter loves this book (although she's afraid of Swiper, from Dora, and the big 'Max wolf' from Max and Ruby), she's not afraid of the monsters in this book.
The condition of the book was excellent, I couldn't have told a difference from a new one.

This story is wonderful. It has helped my son to see monsters as something other than just a source of fear and introduced the idea that even monsters like to play and anyone can be a friend if you give them a chance. The illustrations are wonderful and charming. Mr. Morrisey is a fabulous illustrator and story teller. He has done a great job in seeing from a child's point of view.

This book still engages my kids who can now read it for themselves, ages 6 and 7. We've been reading this at night for at least 3 years, not because we've had any fear of monsters. It may help that I'm an artist and can revel in the imagery and explain the magic that Dean Morrisey exhibits with his paintings. I want one! I love the imagination and the magic of the combined antique toys that make up the Monster Trap....we study it and find new things all the time. Each of my children has a special part that they always point out. This is a fabulous gift and that is how it got into our library. I think there will be a fight between my 2 kids when they become adults and go to claim this for their own library! Get your own!

I bought my 2 year old daughter several books recently, including Peter and the Wolf and the tale of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. She expressed only mild interest in any of them except this one. She absolutely LOVES this book and makes me read it to her at least 3 times every night before bed. She gets it out during the day and reads it to her little brother (who's 16 months old) and to all of her favorite toys. She had a lot of questions about what monsters are, and I felt it was a great way to have the idea of "monsters" introduced to her since they were not at all scary in this book. They turned out to be fun, friendly monsters (not unlike Elmo or Cookie Monster of Sesame Street). She was never frightened by this book, only extremely fascinated. The illustration is excellent and the story is simple and easy for children to follow.

I had the pleasure of meeting Dean Morrissey at Boskone 45 and fell in love with his art - bought all his books. The illustrations in Monster Trap are excellent - my favorite being the two page spread of the "monster trap." I saw that painting in real life and it blew me away. The story is delightful and I would recommend this book to anyone - young or old.

My three year old is captivated by this book. We have read it every night for the past two months. The pictures are beautiful and vivid and the story reads well and is very entertaining. A great addition to any collection