Grim and Ghastly Goings-On

From School Library Journal Kindergarten-Grade 3-- Another winner from the creators of Tales for the Perfect Child (Lothrop, 1985), these 21 poems are sure to send youngsters squealing with delight over the silly, scaly, and not-too-scary monsters that they describe. The selections range in quality from the somewhat ordinary ``A Friendly Warning'' to the marvelous ``What You Don't Know about Food,'' which guarantees that children will never again look at dinner in quite the same way. Similar to Prelutsky's work, Heide's offerings will appeal both to young listeners, who can calm their nighttime fears with ``The Monster in My Closet'' and ``Grool'', and to independent readers who will thrill to the grisly implications of ``Mr. Glump'' with his ``buckets of bones'' and the wormy rubber bands that ``suck your blood out'' in ``Beware of Rubber Bands.'' Each yellow-bordered page features one poem accompanied by a bright, cartoon watercolor. As she did in The Sheriff of Rottenshot (Greenwillow, 1982), Chess finds the exact balance of whimsy and ghoulishness as accent. A good alternative to standard Halloween books and an ideal motivator for creative writing, the book will serve as a perfect complement to story programs and classroom units on monsters. Although it won't sit there for long, be sure to find a place on the shelf for it. --Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, Wheeler School, Providence, RICopyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.