I love a surprise ending, and most children do too, even if they’ve heard the story ten or twenty times already. There is something about an unexpected twist that engages us and commands our attention, and once we’re in on the surprise, we enjoy the tension that leads to the unveiling all the more.
Back in the days when we had all three children at home, we had occasional spells when we were tired of all our old books, and couldn’t settle on anything new because – it was new. It happened most often right around this time of year, when we were well into winter and ready for spring, and ready for a change.
For older children, this is the perfect time to escape into a fantasy adventure with cliffhanger chapters, like C.S. Lewis and The Chronicles of Narnia, Mary Norton’s Borrowers series, the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, and any of Roald Dahl’s quirky books, and of course, Harry Potter.
For the preschool crowd, we have fantasy books about monsters. There are plenty of popular monster books out there – some scary ones you wouldn’t want to read before bedtime, but plenty of not-so-scary ones with cute, friendly, misunderstood monsters. I picked three that I love for their ability to entice a reluctant listener, and for the twisty surprise at the end.
The Giant Jumperee by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, with her wonderful line and watercolor illustrations. Rabbit is about to enter his burrow when he hears, “I’m the Giant Jumperee and I’m as scary as can be!” Rabbit’s friends, Cat, Bear, and Elephant try to oust this Jumperee, to no avail. Finally, Mama Frog comes to the rescue and reveals the surprise.
If you haven’t found The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler, I urge you to do so! A mouse is ambling along through the forest, and when confronted by a fox, an owl, and a snake, scares them away by claiming he is waiting for his scary monster friend the Gruffalo, who likes to eat roasted fox, owl ice cream, and scrambled snake. Little does he know – the Gruffalo is real and interested in Mouse as dinner! The story is written in verse with the repetition that young children love, and the clever mouse provides a clever solution to his dangerous situation.
The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone has been around for nearly 20 years, and parents who watched Sesame Street as children will know Grover as “a cute, furry little monster”. Grover is doing his best to persuade the reader NOT to turn the pages of the book because he is so afraid of the monster at the end of the book. Naturally, the reader insists on continuing, and the monster at the end of the book is revealed as – Grover himself.
Your child’s temperament will affect how they react even to these most gentle of monster stories, so bedtime might not be the time for a first reading. The humor and happy endings of these three make them a good candidate for monster introductions.
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