Travel Guide for Monsters

February 15, 2020
Buckle up and get ready for a rollicking road trip with merry monsters. This cast of joyful monsters in bright colors with myriad different sizes, shapes, facial features, and appendages is guaranteed to make young readers giggle. In this tour of urban and nature-based tourist attractions, the rhyming west-to-east journey connects U.S. cities, including San Francisco, Hollywood, Nashville, Orlando, and the nation's capital, with national parks such as the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, the Everglades, and the Cape Cod National Seashore (with one generic amusement park tossed in for good measure). Most destinations merit a double-page spread with scrapbook border and the state name emblazoned across a federal highway marker. Lively illustrations capture a monster's mischief at every stop. The San Francisco cable car turns one monster slightly green with nausea. Another grinning monster mugs for the camera as the fifth face on Mount Rushmore while a third gets its "15 seconds' fame" compliments of Wrigley Field's Kiss Cam. Decked out in sunglasses and floral swim trunks, a daring monster boogie boards over Niagara Fall. But who knew another would get dizzy atop Lady Liberty? In a quiet feminist statement, readers are admonished that "should you meet the president, / assure her he [the monster] won't bite." Background illustrations show tourists with a range of skin tones and ages, and the aforementioned president is white. A giggly geography lesson for trip planners and daydreamers. (Picture book. 5-8)

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April 15, 2020
Preschool-G Degman has compiled a monstrously fun adventure that takes readers across the country, from California to New York. This silly how-to offers tips and tricks for traveling with (friendly) monsters, so that kids can make the most of their trip. For instance, the text cautions against riding San Francisco's cable cars, as the ups and downs of Frisco hills can make a monster nauseous. It also helpfully suggests measuring your monster to make sure it can fit on amusement park rides while in Florida. Visit the country's national monuments and parks, learn what to feed your hungry monster when in Tennessee, and catch a ball at Wrigley Field. The rhythmic, rhyming sentence structure will keep little listeners' ears perked up, and the assumption that kids have a monster in their home adds to the fun. Page after page of brightly colored illustrations put the monsters on hilarious display, and a map at the book's end shows all the stops on this outlandish road trip. A must-bring for any family road trips or vacation adventure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)