Wild Thing! If You're A Monster and You Know It by Rebecca and Ed Emberley

IF YOU'RE A MONSTER AND YOU KNOW IT

SNORT AND GROWL!

And if you are that monster, you'll surely want to show it--and that's just what all little storytime listeners will be sure to do when they experience Rebecca and Ed Emberley's just published If You're A Monster And You Know It (Orchard, 2010).

Set to the familiar nursery tune of "If You're Happy And You Know It," and done up in Caldecott winner Ed Emberley's ebullient mature style, this newest collaboration of father and daughter Ed and Rebecca Emberley is a real knockout! Artist Emberley, always a groundbreaker in creative style, makes good use of technology, setting his day-glo foreground colors against a shiny black background that makes them almost explode off the page with excitement. Emberley's monsters here are arresting but not a bit scary, composed of irregular but familiar shapes, suggesting more than anything else the kind of joyous excitement that Maurice Sendak's famous wild things' rumpus inspired.

If You're A Monster And You Know It is made for audience participation, and youngsters will be happy to oblige as the monsters "snort and growl, smack claws, stomp, wiggle warts, twitch tails", and "give a ROAR" as the story progresses. And be sure there's plenty of room when the story comes to its grand finale:

IF YOU'RE A MONSTER AND YOU KNOW IT

THEN YOU'LL SURELY WANT TO SHOW IT.

IF YOU'RE A MONSTER AND YOU KNOW IT

DO IT ALL! (Snort and growl, smack your claws, stomp, stomp, twitch your tail, wiggle your warts, roar roar)

Preschoolers and Kindergarteners will have a monster mash with this one, but a word to the wise--don't schedule this one right before rest time! Send them outside to let off steam. And then have plenty of colorful shapes, pop-out warts, and lots of glue ready to have fun creating make-your-own monster masks and stage a dress performance of If You're A Monster And You Know It all over again.

Note: For a little musical assistance, Scholastic/Orchard Books offers with the book a free download of the song "If You're A Monster and You Know It," performed by Emberley's granddaughter Andrian. A great way to kick off the scary season ahead!