A Monster in My Book
by Judy Newman
It’s monster season! Which means I’m gearing up to meet monsters of all shapes and sizes.
This Halloween, my Scholastic colleagues and I will visit Gracie Mansion—Mayor Eric Adams’ house in New York City—where 3,000 children, many living in insecure housing, will celebrate with games and free, diverse books and candy. Following Gracie Mansion, I will then attend the annual Hallow-Read event at the White House in Washington, D.C., where 7,000 children will meet and receive free Scholastic books from Clifford the Big Red Dog and from President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden. And last but not least, I will be celebrating kids’ superpowers when they have the opportunity to choose and keep great books they want to read during the 30th annual Trick-or-Read Festival at the “Book House” in Montclair, New Jersey.
At each one of these book-filled Halloween celebrations, I will be prepared to meet assorted monsters.
I’ll wave to baby monsters; be scared by big kid monsters; and shake hands or give hugs to all kinds of grown-up monsters—moms, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles, older siblings, caregivers—all dressed up as a variety of monsters to celebrate Halloween.
Unlike some of my friends and family who love a good thrill, I do not like to be intentionally scared. But I do have a few favorite monsters whose scaring abilities I respect (from a distance). I met R.L. Stine’s “Slappy” in 1993 when Night of the Living Dummy (Goosebumps #7) was first published. Today, the star of the new Goosebumps television show (Scarier Than You Remember) on Disney+ and Hulu, Slappy is still my #1 monster. Stephen King’s Pennywise the Clown is a fan favorite in my house; and Frankenstein (or The Modern Prometheus) by Mary Shelley and Dracula by Bram Stoker are on the teetering pile of classic books on my nightstand I fully intend to read one of these days.
In the meantime, I wanted to see what monster books kids these days are reading to help them confront their feelings (or get inspiration for their Halloween costumes). My very informal poll yielded the following favorites titles:
The Color Monster: A Pop-Up Book of Feeling
by Anna Llenas
Haunted House
by Jan Pienkowski
Guess Who’s Just Moved in Next Door
by Colin McNaughton
Creepy Pair of Underwear! and Creepy Carrots
by Aaron Reynolds and Peter Brown
My Teacher is a Monster
by Peter Brown
Little Witch Hazel: A Year in the Forest
by Phoebe Wahl
Monster Party
by Annie Bach
Don’t Push the Button
by Bill Cotter
The Monster at the End of this Book
(Little Golden Book/Sesame Street)
Where the Wild Things Are
by Maurice Sendak
The Gruffalo
by Julia Donaldson
illustrated by Axel Scheffler
In my own book, Bobs and Tweets: Trick or Tweet (written under my pseudonym, Pepper Springfield and illustrated by the brilliant Kristy Caldwell), Lou Tweet and Dean Bob confront their fears in a case of mistaken monster identity. It was fun creating this third book in the series and putting myself in the kids’ shoes on a scary Halloween.
We grown-ups are bombarded with stories of monsters from all over the place. And while we try to protect kids and make sure they only have access to “age-appropriate” monster activity they can theoretically handle, given the rapid technology-enabled spread of information, it’s very hard to control which monsters kids hear about or experience in life.
We can’t shield children or ourselves from all monsters. But what we all can do is make sure all teachers and librarians and grown-ups who care about children have access to excellent children’s books. Children’s books are affordable, portable, available, diverse, accessible. They are uniquely able to help all kids and caregivers—regardless of their literacy backgrounds—navigate the monsters in their lives in a way that respects their childhood and their need to develop their own agency and the critical self-confidence to be their best selves.
Please send me any of your favorite monster books: judy.newman@Scholastic.com.
Happy Reading!
XX,
Judy
Judy Newman, Chief Impact Officer, Scholastic