Maybe Monsters: Bedtime Monsters by Ed Vere

.... HE CROSSES THE GLOOPY, SCHLOOPY SWAMP.

GLOOP GLOOP SCHLOOP,

DO YOU THINK HE'S IMAGINING

JUST HOW GOOD YOU'LL TASTE
ALL COVERED WITH KETCHUP?

What IF...?

What not-so-sleepy kid hasn't lain awake in bed and allowed his or her mind to wander, back to a mucky, yucky swamp where a imagined monster wakes up hungry and makes his way inexorably, licking his big fat lips, craving a juicy tasty morsel toward one house... just one house.

What if... he rides his little red bike through the dark forest and tiptoes through thistles and thorns,

SCRITCH SCRATCHY... OUCH!

Closer and closer he comes, and the now wide-awake kid imagines the monster imagining what a tasty morsel lies ahead of him, and he's getting hungrier and hungrier. Is that the monster's tummy, starting to rumble?

GGRRRRUUUUMMMMBLING!

And then,

CREAK CREAKITY CREAK!

HE'S OPENING YOUR BEDROOM DOOR.

HE'S LICKING HIS LIPS....

It's the worst thing imaginable.

It's ...

Well, it's something even more unwanted than a swamp monster for a wide-awake kid! It's back to the grim realities of bedtime in Ed Vere's latest monster mash, Bedtime for Monsters (Henry Holt, 2012), as a belated but definitely monstrously sloppy daddy-smooch gets this kid at last. Kids will love the delicious onomatopoetic sound effects of this pretend-monster tale, as the rhythmic, sorta-scary text is offset by Vere's comical and googly-eyed green monster making his way slowly but surely to that final surprise. "Vere strikes the perfect balance of humor and thrills," says Kirkus Reviews.