School Library Journal Review

PreS-In this book about nighttime worries, a rhyming text describes a variety of creatures that live under a little boy's bed, ranging from "bugs- gobbling" and "squabbling" to "a dragon dozing" to a monster "bigger than a stable door,/Horrible, hairy, with warts on his nose,/With knots in his tail, and mold on his toes." Children are assured that all of these beasts are too busy, sleepy, or lazy to bother with them. In fact, the critters are frightened of something inside the bed, and after they run off one by one, readers discover that it is the boy they are afraid of. The amusing illustrations are large and brightly colored. The bugs have huge teeth, horns, spiked tails, and scary expressions but are smaller than a tennis shoe. Cort makes good use of perspective, showing a frightened monster (who sucks his thumb and holds a teddy bear) as very small and insignificant on one spread, while the boy's smiling face engulfs an entire page. The size and placement of the text effectively reflect the emotion and action of the story. This is a good choice for preschoolers worried about sleeping in their own beds. Pair it with Mercer Mayer's There's Something in My Attic (Dial, 1988) or James Howe's There's a Monster under My Bed (Atheneum, 1986) for a funny and fear-free storyhour.-Sheilah Kosco, Rapides Parish Library, Alexandria, LA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.