I Will Fight Monsters for You

Spanish writer Balmes’s heroine Martina has pigtails and striped pajamas, and she isn’t just scared of one monster under her bed—she imagines a whole upside-down world of monsters down there. “She was sure that if she left her arm hanging over the side of the bed, the monster would make a hole in the floor, grab her hand, and maybe pull her into the monster world where she would have to learn how to live upside down.” Her father comforts her (“I will fight monsters for you,” he promises gallantly), she sleeps, and in her dream—which takes place in the monster world—a monster named Anitram lies in her bed worrying about (what else?) humans under the bed. “Did you know that fear is elastic, like bubble gum?” Anitram’s father tells her. “As you grow braver, fear shrinks smaller and smaller until it disappears.” Lyona’s pink and blue monsters are even cuter than Martina, and the book’s sweetly conceived conclusion (not to mention the pair of warmhearted fathers, human and monster) will calm any nervous bed-goer. Ages 4–7. Agency: The K Literary and Film Agency. (Mar.)