The Monsterator

K-Gr 2—In this fiendishly fun novelty book, Master Edgar Dreadbury is suitably bored by typical Halloween attire and chooses to bypass his usual costume store for The Monster Shop, which he had not previously noticed. There, he finds a contraption called the "MONSTERATOR," and with a nonchalant "Oh, why not," the child drops his dime into the old fashioned-looking machine and is suddenly transformed into a monster. With his fearsome roar, sharp fangs, pointy horns, and reptilian feet, Edgar joyfully scares everyone in his path. "He horrified the tall./He terrified the small./Edgar Dreadbury frightened them all." It's all well and good on Halloween night, but when Edgar grows tired of being a monster, he discovers that the shop has disappeared and he is destined to remain one forever. The simple plot is heightened by a humorous rhyming text (including many monsterly sound effects) and large, kid-friendly, digitally enhanced acrylic illustrations that are more funny than creepy. But the true pleasure and surprise of this book are the final pages that serve as a flip toy, allowing youngsters to "monsterate" Edgar themselves by selecting from several layers of monstrous heads, faces, bodies, and feet. Sturdy pages will survive dozens of flips and give kids lots of incentive to create their own Halloween costume mash-ups. Purchase multiples for lots of horrific holiday fun!—Teri Markson, Los Angeles Public Library