From Publishers Weekly
"Welcome to the Monster Motel, / Where mostly monstrous monsters dwell. / They crawl the walls and gore the floors, / They shred the beds then saw the doors." Jaunty verses with a kid-pleasing combination of whimsy and grossness describe the zany creatures ("The Fabled Feerz," "The Purple Po," et al.) who inhabit Florian's decidedly outre hostelry. The Monster Chef cooks up "a meal / Of spotted toad and speckled eel" and adds--for that extra je ne sais quoi --"a lizard's pointed nose." The yellow Brilly, a "foolish ghoulish puddinghead," is a creature who "munches traffic signs" for lunch and "takes its bath in lemon Jell-O." With a soupcon of Dr. Seuss's wackiness and a dollop of Jack Prelutsky's humor, Florian's ( Vegetable Garden ) groaning and moaning, triangle-toothed monsters are funny enough to frighten away the blues. Slight but suitably silly. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 1-- In the introductory poem, a bellhop greets readers: "Welcome to the Monster Motel,/ Where mostly monstrous monsters dwell." Each of the remaining 13 poems describes a different resident. Florian's creatures are, however, gentle and bizarre rather than scary. Some of the more interesting ones are those that might exist almost anywhere. "The Gazzygoo," for instance, lives inside the cracks of a sidewalk. Others, such as "The Fabled Feerz" and "The Brilly," are bigger and bolder. The language and the images are creative and rhythmic, and the subject matter will certainly appeal to children. The poems themselves, though, are not as consistently vivid or successful as the illustrations. Florian's seemingly simple watercolors grow more intriguing with each new book. His emphatic use of line, his imaginative use of color, and his ability to convey mood and expression are all superbly demonstrated here. --Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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