Believe It or Not, My Brother Has a Monster!

In a raucous story from U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate Nesbitt (Bigfoot Is Missing!), a boy describes the Halloween night when his brother brought home a monster (and an array of animals): “He then snuck seven bats inside./ The spiders ran and tried to hide.” Slonim’s (I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Dreidel) rattlebrained cartoons convey the animal guests’ antics, which include commandeering a computer and rocking out to “Monster Mash.” When the boy’s worst fear comes true (“I hope our parents don’t find out!”), the animals transform into cuddlier counterparts (robins instead of ravens, gerbils instead of spiders, and a shaggy dog instead of a monster), only to revert to their glowering selves on the final page. The 11th-hour transformations may confuse some readers, but the mischief the animals get up to should keep them entertained. Ages 4–6. Author’s agent: Jill Corcoran, Jill Corcoran Literary Agency. (June)