Romping Monsters, Stomping Monsters
ROMPING MONSTERS, STOMPING MONSTERS
Illustrations by Kelly Murphy
Candlewick, 2013
ISBN-10: 0763657271
ISBN-13: 978-0763657277
Yes, they are back. I gave the editor a whole raft of choices—eating monsters, monsters taking a bath, going to camp, and she said. “What about sports?” I wrote it and wanted to call it “Warty Monsters, Sporty Monsters,” but cooler heads (the editor’s) prevailed. We at last agreed on the title. My favorite thing is Monster-sicles. On a hot day, what could be better, I say!
Other books in the series:
Accolades:
- Huffington Post named ROMPING MONSTERS, STOMPING MONSTERS as one of their best Halloween books of 2013.
What reviewers have said:
- “Yolen and Murphy are at it again. This time, their monsters engage in plenty of playground fun. Yolen’s perfectly precise text, repetition, and rhyme make the story ideal for reading aloud to even the littlest monsters. These rainbow-hued beasts hopscotch, slide, and race around a park, but after eating “monster-sicles,” some monsterly behavior leads to a lesson in saying “sorry.” Murphy’s tone-on-tone illustrations in warm greens, blues, and oranges give the creatures a fuzzy rather than menacing look. This blending of color may make the nuances of each page hard to pick out from a distance, but the technique lends itself to even more enjoyment one-on-one.”—School Library Journal
- “All sorts and sizes of monsters gather at Creepy Commons to have some fun. The author uses two- or three-word phrases to build a steady rhyming text describing the full range of activities taking place. “Monsters stretch. / Monsters twirl. // Monsters catch. / Monsters hurl. // Monsters tumble, / Run, and lope. / Monsters jump / A monster rope.” The cadence will be soothing to young ears, leaving the eyes of toddlers and preschoolers to discover the playful details found throughout the soft-hued illustrations painted in oil, acrylic and gel. This diverse bunch is cute and cuddly without coming across as overly sweet. Some have four eyeballs, and some have only one. Pointy horns and handlike hair sprout from curious places on this happily rambunctious crew. Big and small, young and old—all cavort on slides and swings. Occasionally, there is a mishap—”Monsters in / Three-legged races / Fall upon / Their Monster faces”—but it is nothing a “monster-sicle” treat cannot fix.Young ones will want to join in on this monster romp again and again, since it is all so silly, comforting and familiar.”—Kirkus
- “As you’ll probably remember, we love a good monstery book here on ReadItDaddy particularly when there’s a grand rumpus involved. In Romping Monsters, Stomping Monsters there’s plenty of rumpus indeed as we bounce along with brilliant rhyming text to scenes of little monsters doing what they (and indeed our own little monsters) do best! Jane Yolen’s book is brilliant to use as a way of indulging in a bit of romping, stomping and indeed jumping, splashing or sliding…The true acid test of any monster book are of course those monsters themselves, and Kelly Murphy has come up with some truly fabulous creations as we follow each page spread and scene as it unfolds. A romp, a stomp, a monstery whomp!”—Read it Daddy
- “In this high-octane sequel to Creepy Monsters, Sleepy Monsters, wild and whimsical artwork revs up a read-aloud text that will have little listeners jumping up to join the action.”—Social Cafe Mag