I Need My Monster (2009) was a little too frightening for me. Amanda Noll's text may appeal to the child who likes scary monsters. When Ethan's resident monster takes a week off to go fishing, Ethan searches for a substitute. He could not fall to sleep without a monster under the bed. "I knew my monster needed to be well-clawed and menacing," says Ethan. And Howard McWilliam walks the tightrope of creating creatures that are both creepy and silly. The impressive claws of one monster fill a page, but on the next page we see that they belong to Cynthia. Cynthia has a long tail adorned with a pink bow. Note that Ethan responds with, "I definitely need a boy monster. Boy monsters are for boys and girl monsters are for girls. Everybody knows that." Gabe does return and I definitely found him more menacing than all the others who interviewed for the position.
Dandelions and Dragonflies has an I Need My Monster Packet. New Teacher New Ideas has an I Need My Monster activity. Love Miss Lohse has an I Need My Monster activity as well.
