From Publishers Weekly
Few monsters have been as sweet as the green, googly-eyed mother and son in this cuddly picture book. More literal and less ominous than Liz Rosenberg and Stephen Gammell's Monster Mama, Leuck's (Sun Is Falling, Night Is Calling) rhyming verse describes the myriad ways a mother shows her boundless love: "She gives me great big hairy hugs,/ bakes me cookies filled with bugs,.../ she sings a monster lullaby/ of things that shriek and moan and creepA/ soothing things to help me sleep." The tender tone is sure to make this a bedtime favorite for drowsy toddlers. Buehner (My Life with the Wave) attacks his subject matter with obvious glee in vibrant acrylic-and-oil paintings of grinning three-eyed, four-armed monsters with blue toenails taking a dip in a dark and murky swamp or participating in a Little League "beastball" game. With a wink, he portrays "the scary things [that] come out/ to wave their arms and scream and shout" as human children. This parallel cobwebby world is all heart. Ages 2-up. (Sept..-- come out/ to wave their arms and scream and shout" as human children. This parallel cobwebby world is all heart. Ages 2-up. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
PreSchool-This amusing love poem will delight preschoolers and their mothers as they enjoy the rhyming story and pore over the detailed illustrations. Little monster tells readers the many ways his mama shows that she loves him: she attends all of his "beastball games"; sings him lullabies and tucks him into bed; and "She gives me great big hairy hugs,/bakes me cookies filled with bugs,/and when I'm sick she's twice as nice-/she gives me lizard juice with ice." The story is humorous, though slight, and works well, despite a few moments of awkward rhythm, but it is the illustrations that shine. Buehner's three-eyed monsters live in a haunted house that includes a one-eyed dog, spiders over the bed, and cobwebs everywhere, yet they manage to look both friendly and monstrous at the same time. Details such as bug earrings and a blue, hairy beastball with eyes and fangs, as well as ordinary children as the "scary things" that frighten little monster, are sure to tickle young funny bones. Ending with the line, "Oops-one other thing is true:/Your monster mama loves you too!" Leuck delivers a reassuring message in a funny, mildly scary story. Perfect for storytimes.
Amy Lilien-Harper, Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
