I found Mo Willems' adorable Leonardo the Terrible Monster at the library on Saturday. I thought this was lucky as it was published just in time for Halloween.
In any case, Leonardo the Terrible Monster is terribly cute and funny. Our sweet little monster can't compete. "He wasn't big, like Eleanor. And he wasn't just plain weird, like Hector." Moreover, "He didn't have 1,642 teeth like Tony." (A footnote informs the reader "Note: Not all teeth shown.")
When I was running the book under the scanner, my four-your old said, "That looks like a good book!" I said, "Yes, many people say it is good. It's about a monster." "Ah," he said (literally), "It must be one of those monster books where the scary monster turns out to be not so scary after all." It is probably not spoiling the surprise to let you know that my little critic was correct. I guess Leonardo's eyebrows on the front cover betray his monsterness.
Highly recommended for the 3-6 crowd. As mentioned, Willems is a master at facial expression--must be all that work in animation he's done.
