Taming the Monsters: Mommy? by Maurice Sendak, Matthew Reinhart, and Al Yorinks

This hyper-high-tech pop-up book features a typical monster-taming Sendak protagonist, a toddler who wanders into a suitably spooky-looking house calling “Mommy?” and proceeds to pop a pacifier into a ghoul's mouth, de-“bolt” a Frankenstein monster, nip the knickers off Wolf Man, and unwind a mummy’s wrappings, until he at last finds a suitably maternal monster (the Bride of Frankenstein). An ever-so-slightly macabre spoof on Are You My Mother?, this book has some sly fun for the adults who will undoubtedly have to “read it again!”

Maurice Sendak' unique drawings provide an unflappable toddler character who nonchalantly finds himself inside a house of horrors, equipped with pop-ups, pull-outs, gate-folds, and sight gags (a cranky, diapered baby Frankenstein photo on the wall) all expertly engineered by Matt Reinhart to provide plenty of action. Although Mommy? works as a lap book for toddlers who enjoy seeing one of their own dispelling fearsome critters, its most appreciative readers will be primary graders who have enough literary experience to "get" the gags and appreciate the artfully constructed movable book that it is!