Monsters Eat Whiny Children

by Bruce Eric Kaplan, Bruce Eric Kaplan (Illustrator)

Overview

This cautionary tale about whiny children being eaten by monsters is upended when the monsters cannot decide how best to prepare their meal. A whiny child salad doesn't work because there's paprika in the dressing. A whiny child cake won't do because the flour spills all over the floor. Whiny child burgers are out of the question because the grill is too hard to light. When the persnickety monsters finally decide that whiny child cucumber sandwiches are the perfect solution, their whiny children have escaped. At least the children have learned their lesson...for now.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781416986898
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	08/31/2010
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	8.70(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD660L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Bruce Eric Kaplan, known for his distinctive, off-beat single-panel cartoons, has been a New Yorker cartoonist for more than fifteen years. He is also a television writer and was an executive producer for the acclaimed HBO series Six Feet Under, as well as a writer on Seinfeld (funnily enough, one of his most well-known episodes is one where Elaine becomes increasingly frustrated over what she takes to be an utterly nonsensical New Yorker cartoon). He has authored and illustrated seven adult titles including the cult classic The Cat That Changed My Life; the collections I Love You, I Hate You, I’m Hungry; No One You Know; and This Is a Bad Time; and three titles featuring the wonderfully neurotic Brooklyn couple Edmund and Rosemary: Every Person on the Planet, Edmund and Rosemary Go to Hell, and Everything Is Going to Be Okay. Bruce is also the author and illustrator of four picture books: Monsters Eat Whiny Children, Cousin Irv from Mars, Meaniehead, and Someone Farted. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.

Bruce Eric Kaplan, known for his distinctive, off-beat single-panel cartoons, has been a New Yorker cartoonist for more than fifteen years. He is also a television writer and was an executive producer for the acclaimed HBO series Six Feet Under, as well as a writer on Seinfeld (funnily enough, one of his most well-known episodes is one where Elaine becomes increasingly frustrated over what she takes to be an utterly nonsensical New Yorker cartoon). He has authored and illustrated seven adult titles including the cult classic The Cat That Changed My Life; the collections I Love You, I Hate You, I’m Hungry; No One You Know; and This Is a Bad Time; and three titles featuring the wonderfully neurotic Brooklyn couple Edmund and Rosemary: Every Person on the Planet, Edmund and Rosemary Go to Hell, and Everything Is Going to Be Okay. Bruce is also the author and illustrator of four picture books: Monsters Eat Whiny Children, Cousin Irv from Mars, Meaniehead, and Someone Farted. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.

Editorial Reviews

Cartoonist and TV writer Kaplan delivers a witty, tightly controlled picture-book debut brimming with humor. Henry and Eve are "two perfectly delightful children...going through a TERRIBLE phase." In short, they are big whiners and are undeterred when their father delivers the titular warning that "monsters eat whiny children." Sure enough, a bevy of monsters arrives on the scene ready to cook them up, but it turns out that they are rather whiny too and can't decide how to prepare the children. Whiny-child salad? Burgers? Cake? Vindaloo? At this last suggestion the text assumes a true New Yorker–cartoon vibe asserting, "sometimes it's so hard to figure out if you're in the mood for Indian food." By book's end the children redeem themselves by helping the indecisive, bereft monsters overcome their bickering, and they escape through a window leaving the monsters to enjoy cucumber sandwiches (recipe included). Throughout the book, ample white space offsets energetic, expressive line drawings expertly highlighted with retrained use of color. There's nothing to whine about here. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews