Starry, Starry Night-Night: Nighty Night, Little Green Monster by Ed Emberley

LITTLE GREEN MONSTER HAS TWO LITTLE YELLOW EYES.

It's Build-A-Monster time once more in Ed Emberley's newest interactive monster tale, Nighty Night, Little Green Monster (Little, Brown, 2013). Here Emberley takes the reader back to the younger days of his character, Big Green Monster. With clever die-cut pages, we get to assemble Little Green Monster's face bit by bit, from yellow eyes to a bluish-greenish nose and squiggly ears, purplish hair, and a red mouth with one cute little baby monster tooth.

Little Green Monster takes shape with each additional page turn until mid-book, when his features begin to disappear as a silvery crescent moon and ever-increasing die-cut stars begin to come out, until at last our Little Green Monster's yellow eyes are closed and seventeen stars (count 'em, kids!) fill the page with that final bedtime suggestion:

SWEET DREAMS!

A nice amalgamation of  inviting shapes, color recognition and counting practice, and an interactive board book for the youngest monster fans, this one would be a perfect last-book-before-bed to follow Emberley's notable Go Away, Big Green Monster! (See my review here.)  Not at all scary, this baby monster is fun for young eyes and fingers to explore.  School Library Journal says, "Children will be starstruck with this monstrously interactive bedtime story."