Monster Members Only! Ethan Long Presents...Fright Club by Ethan Long

IT WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE HALLOWEEN WHEN VLADIMIR CALLED ONE LAST FRIGHT CLUB MEETING TO GO OVER OPERATION KID SCARE.

All the legacy members are in attendance--Vlad the Vampire, Fran K. Stein, Sandy Witch, Virginia Wolf(man), and the other usual suspects--mummies, ghosts, zombies, and ghouls--all certified FRIGHTFUL.

But a review of the charter members terrifying techniques shows that they are all a bit rusty at being horrific. Vladimir is just launching into a lecture when there's a timid knock at the door. When Vlad grudgingly opens up, there is an adorable pink-eared bunny on his doorstep, asking to join the club.

"YOU? IN FRIGHT CLUB? THAT'S SUCH A CUTE IDEA!

BUT I AM AFRAID FRIGHT CLUB IS FOR MONSTERS ONLY. SHOO!

But Bunny is not easily abashed at being on the outside looking in. And he's not alone, either. He gathers his own cadre of outsiders and is soon back with legal assistance--Frances Foxx, attorney-at-law, waving a discrimination suit brief, on behalf of all the cutesy critters being denied membership. Vlad slams the trapdoor in their faces, but they are soon back with a passel of sign-carrying, shouting protesters:

"HISS, MOAN, BOO! WE CAN SCARE, TOO!"

And in Halloween's Operation Kid Scare, the new pledges of the Fright Club fraternity join the monsters in a very scary Fright Night caper, in Ethan Long's Fright Club (Bloomsbury Books, 2015). A winner of the Theodor Seuss Geisel award for beginning reader books (for Up, Tall and High) puts his winning cartoon ways to work in this not-to-frightful Halloween tale for early graders. Great for reading aloud (the opportunities for silly voices are wide open here) and not too hard for primary readers, this one has a worthy premise of how it feels to be on the outside looking in, all in this clever story of a spooky clique outwitted and outspooked. As Publishers Weekly points out, "Long’s dark, ghostly palette sets an appropriately eerie mood, and he has a lot of fun with the cuddly animals’ reign of terror (a butterfly wields chains, Jacob Marley style, as it chases a ghost)."

Move Over, King Kong! Tiny Hamster Is A Giant Monster by Joel Jensen

ONE CLOUDY DAY TINY HAMSTER WENT OUT TO FIND A BITE TO EAT.

TINY HAMSTER WAS ALWAYS HUNGRY, YOU SEE.

Tiny Hamster scurries through Big City Park looking for dropped munchies and happens upon a spilled can of Evil Green Goo.

Oh, No, Tiny Hamster! Don't eat that!

Ignoring the universal radiation danger symbol, Tiny scarfs up the slimy green mess. BURP!

But all is well until the darkening skies turn into a thunder storm.

Oh, No, Tiny Hamster. Get under cover before a lightning bolt....

KA-BOOM! KABOOM! (again!)

HE FELT HIMSELF INFLATE LIKE A BIG BALLOON THAT KEPT GETTING BIGGER--LIKE A BLIMP.

NO. A ZEPPELIN!

And that's not all. Tiny Hamster's claws grow big and sharp, his tiny tail trails long behind him, and spikes sprout from his back. He turns green. And he's still hungry--REALLY hungry. Tiny Hamster is a Giant Monster and he has the appetite to match. He rampages through the Big City, knocking down buildings, chomping up the subway cars on the El, and grazing on the trees (broccoli florets) in Big City Park. He scales a tall skyscraper, where he finds himself under attack from a flock of helicopters. Yum, flying snacks! Crunchy!

Joel Jensen and Joseph and Amy Matsushima's spinoff from their popular YouTube series, Tiny Hamster Is a Giant Monster (Simon and Schuster, 2015), riffs on the classic science fiction monster run amok, with a nod to King Kong, Godzilla and even Frankenstein's monster. The creators provide a artfully constructed and apparently edible Metropolis for their hamster to ravage in a spoof that will tickle older readers and even tots who have no experience with the whole metropolitan monster trope.

See Tiny Hamster rampage through the Big Apple here.

For more silly monster spoofery, don't miss Dav Pilkey's choice Dogzilla and Kat Kong.