Cut-down: This Monster Needs a Haircut by Bethany Barton

THIS IS STEWART.

STEWART IS A MONSTER.

HE HAS HORNS, AND WILD, MESSY, SCARY HAIR.

And that is the way Stewart likes it. Frightfulness is his forte', and he and his best friend Feliz like nothing better than a day at the zoo, scaring the hair off the hippos, and enlisting spiders to weave spider web castles.

Stewart has horns that a rhino would respect. His long and crooked fangs would turn a dentist's hair the color of his white coat, and his hair--now that is Stewart's specialty!

"I LOVE MY AWESOME HAIR!"

Stewart is sure that his hair is his strongest scare strength, especially when adorned with spiders' nest, lost school supplies, a snack or two--but even a monster mom has limits on her tolerance. Stewart's mom takes his hairbrush (unused so long it has its own spiderwebs) to his tousled tresses, with no success. She pulls out the Mega-Monster Detangler, but the tangles are still more than Mom can manage.

Stewart's dad has the simple answer--a haircut. As an incentive, he shows Stewart a photo brochure of cool cuts--the George Washington, the Punk Rocker, the Elvis--but Stewart is stalwart in defense of his locks.

But at last his green locks outgrow even Stewart's patience. His hair gets so long that it keeps getting caught in the landscape. A troop of monkeys use a length of it for a jump rope! Finally, Stewart is ready to cut a deal over the haircut issue.

"DEAR DAD, MAYBE WE COULD TALK ABOUT THE HAIRCUT A LITTLE BIT. LOVE, STEWART."

Will Stewart the Monster find haircut happiness, or will he wind up wearing a paper bag over his head forever? Find out in Bethany Barton's winsomely illustrated, tongue-in-fang tonsorial saga, This Monster Needs a Haircut (Dial Books, 2012). Barton builds mega-bits of visual humor into her haircut tale (the blackboard at Monster School reads "Homework: Find a human's homework and EAT IT!). Pair this spoof on the scary side of life with Matthew McElligott's hilarious Even Monsters Need Haircuts (see my review here) for a monster tonsorial twofer that'll have kids giggling as they hippity-hop to the barbershop.