There's a Monster at the End of This Book
A teacher’s look at why this book belongs in the Page Grabbers stage.
Why it fits Page Grabbers (for young toddlers who treat books as things to do)
Grover begs the reader not to turn the pages - so of course they must. It makes page-turning itself the drama. Comic timing that teaches what suspense is.
What makes it special
It weaponizes the page-turn: Grover begs you not to, so turning becomes the drama itself. The illustrations of his rope-and-brick barricades collapsing are slapstick at its purest. A book about the irresistibility of continuing — and the harmless joy of doing it anyway — reads differently, and better, than any autoplay queue.
About Jon Stone
Jon Stone (1931-1997) was Sesame Street's first head writer and one of its principal directors and producers for more than 24 years, and he won eighteen Emmy Awards. He wrote The Monster at the End of This Book, published as a Little Golden Book in 1971.
The Monster at the End of This Book is the bestselling Sesame Street book of all time, with almost 13 million copies sold as of 2021, and is one of the ten bestselling Little Golden Books.
Also by this author: Another Monster at the End of This Book
More from “Books That Do Things”
This book is part of The Best Books for Toddlers: 30 Teacher Picks (Page Grabbers) in our guide The Best Children’s Books by Age — 120 books chosen by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX. Come see how we build readers →
Nobody paid for this review — not the author, not the publisher — and the store link above earns us nothing. Our only interest is the reader this book fits.