First, I am not a Laurie Berkner fan. Yet, Monster Boogie is a real treat. You do not need the music or a CD of Berkner signing or playing the music for you to enjoy it. As you read out loud you will fall into a natural rhythm of a song. You will love the bounciness to the words and will have fun. Therefore, this is not a before bedtime story. It would be great for a preschool classroom.
The illustrations by Ben Clanton are a treat as well. They are simplistic, not realistic (but no question what everything and one is/are) and they have a fun surprise. From page one, one of 
the children is not so scared while their sibling is not at all brave. That is, watch their facial expression go from scared to oh…okay maybe I am interested to this does not seem too bad to them tapping their toes and boogieing and wiggling with the monsters of the room!
Amazon has this for ages 4 to 8 but I would say as young as two (if the child is not too sensitive) and no older than 8. However, this would be a fun read for the 8 to 10 year old to read to younger siblings (as if they are anything like me, they will pretend they are not having fun but they will be!)
My favorite monster is the hot pink fluff ball with the unicorn horn (there is a fun illustration where the boy is precariously over the obvious sharp horn (Clanton’s illustration shows “lines coming off it” to show the “point”). This shows there is some quirky adult humor but is a hundred percent child friendly
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.