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Summary
Summary
Patrick is worried about his first day of monstergarten. Everyone knows you have to be SCARY in monstergarten. Patrick's friend, Kevin, offers to show Patrick how to be scary - they roar, they sneak up on people, they bare their teeth. But Patrick still isn't ready. His parents tell him to just be himself. But what if he's not scary ENOUGH?
Author Notes
Daniel J. Mahoney is a radiologic technologist, as well as a children's book author and illustrator. His picture books include The Perfect Clubhouse (Clarion), and the touch-and-feel book, I See A Monster by Laurie Young (Piggy Toes Press). He lives in Albany, NY, with his son.
Jef Kaminsky has illustrated several picture books, including Bite Me, I'm a Book by Sarah Weeks, but Monstergarten is his first book in ten years. By day, he holds an executive position in the entertainment arm of publishing. The rest of the time, he lives and draws in Brooklyn, with his wife and their daughter.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-Monster Patrick is afraid he is not going to be scary enough for monstergarten. His friend Kevin promises to help him because he is "an expert at being scary." The two practice with limited success, then Patrick's parents reassure him that school will be fine if he is just himself. On the first day, all goes well, but it takes a little scare from him to get Kevin pried away from a parental leg. At that point, they decide they love monstergarten. The loosely outlined, blobby-looking, brightly colored characters are appealing enough and vaguely reminiscent of Mo Willems's monsters. Appearing on mostly white backgrounds, in a variety of spot-art scenes, the characters are funny and not particularly scary. The writing is clear, if uninspired, but the story breaks no new ground, and the abrupt ending does nothing to help anxious youngsters understand what to expect in kindergarten, or why it is fun. The idea of using monsters as stand-ins for dealing with fears has been done with success in the past, but the minimal story here, and the lack of any real coping mechanisms for readers, makes this attempt fall flat.-Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
A diminutive fuchsia monster named Patrick has been told that being scary is a prerequisite for attending Monstergarten. Luckily, his gap-toothed blue friend, Kevin, offers to teach him how. On a funny wordless spread, Kaminsky shows the monsters making their scariest faces, hanging upside down, and stretching out their tongues (meanwhile, a cute white cat easily out-scares the pair). Though Kaminsky's Day-Glo characters look like the adorable result of a biochemical spill, readers will recognize that Patrick's mother's advice ("Just be yourself") is just as applicable to human classrooms as it is to monster ones. Ages 4-5. Author's agent: Christina A. Tugeau. Illustrator's agent: Pippin Properties. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Sensitive monster Patrick worries that he won't be scary enough for Monstergarten; future classmate Kevin, "an expert," tutors him in the art of spooking. When Kevin has separation anxiety on the first day of school, Patrick puts what he's learned to excellent use. This fresh take on a familiar situation features dynamic, cartoony digital art that couldn't scare a fly. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Typical kindergarten concerns: Will I like the other kids? Will they like me? It's the same deal in the monster world but with a twist; the question for purple, striped-horned Patrick is whether he will be scary enough. Good thing he has a blue, dinosaur-tailed best bud named Kevin, who is happy to teach Patrick everything he needs to know. They practice scary faces and study monster behavior in books (growling, fang flashing, and the like), but none of it puts Patrick at ease: What was the right way for him to be scary? Kaminsky's cutely primitive illustrations have every ounce of the bright zip digital tools can bring, with bold splotches of color dominating otherwise white pages, especially when the text disappears to allow for prime-time monster mugging. Mahoney doesn't let it end monstrously, of course, as it's Patrick who must be scary on the first day of monstergarten in order to put Kevin at ease. Just about the happiest darned book about being scared you're likely to find.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist
