Alfred’s Book of Monsters

Are you ready for Hallowe’en? My Changeling certainly is! (And I love Hallowe’en, always have, always will.)

So I thought I’d try to hit some new and classic notes for Hallowe’en in the next month and a half before Hallowe’en actually arrives. That means you might get some shorter posts like this one to highlight some books we’ve seen before, some new ones, so that you can have some time to do some thinking and shopping for your own little monsters– or yourselves!

Now, this is a very new one, from one of my favourite independent Boston-based publishers, Charlesbridge: Alfred’s Book of Monsters by Sam Streed. (You’ve seen Charlesbridge often here before, but usually in the context of nonfiction books– here’s proof they do amazing fiction, too.)

Now, Alfred would hate for me to say this, but it’s a perfectly delightful story!

You see, Alfred lives with his aunt, who wants him to have tea with her. Alfred, on the other hand, wants to read about monsters in his big old Book of Monsters in the study. So what happens when Alfred loses his patience with tea parties and delightful things altogether and decides he just has to meet the monsters…?

Well, I’m not going to tell you!

What I will tell you is that quickly shuttling back and forth between the pages of the Book of Monsters and the aunt’s tea parties will shake your child up and get them to adjust quickly to new fonts and new images. Alfred’s antics are amusing and just a little bit shocking, spooky without being altogether scary. In other words, a perfect Hallowe’en story for the pre-scary-story crowd! I think the sweet spot is probably for 5 years old, but an adventurous 3-year-old could certainly handle it, and I know my unadventurous 6-year-old will also enjoy it.

Being absolutely honest: I know that I’m hoping my Changeling gets really into the book so I can organize a Perfectly Terrible Monster Tea Party for her to go with the story…

So let’s get ready for Hallowe’en with monsters galore!