In the lead up to Christmas, I’ll be sharing short reviews of great books and who they’d be perfect for. Find the master list here
Day Seven – The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone
Genre – Picture Book
There was, apparently, a whole range of Sesame Street books written – but while I remember this one from my childhood, I don’t remember any others. This is the one which managed to break beyond the fact it ‘belonged’ to a television show, and reached out to children (including my sister and myself) in a very real way.
I think the secret lies with two things – there’s the breaking of the fourth wall (much like ‘Don’t Let the Pigeon‘) which lets Grover talk directly to us – to tell us that there’s a monster at the end of the book and that he’s scared of that. Then there’s the ‘interactive’ aspect (like Tap the Magic Tree), where turning the page ‘destroys’ walls and other means to try and stop the reader from turning the page. Plus there’s a really jovial feeling with this book, although Grover is scared, the reader knows that everything will probably be ok at the end.
We actually have this one as a board book, and Squirm loves looking through it – it’s exactly the right size for his little hands and it’s quite a sturdy book.
Highly recommended for toddlers and preschoolers – it’s also brilliant for parents to read aloud and children to turn the pages!
Adventures of a Subversive Reader 
T loves this book and I find it ever so boring to read. There’s just soooo much repetition (although obviously T enjoys that, so I grit my teeth through it).
Squirm’s favourite at the moment is an awful Avenger’s Little Golden book – I am 100% over it 🙂