Book review by Sarah Denslow
Grover scared of Grover!
Considering how beloved it is, it’s possible that The Monster at the End of This Book needs no actual review, merely a reminder of its existence.
Monster was one of my favorite books as a child, but I had forgotten about it until I came across it while holiday shopping. Despite the stresses and hassles of shopping over Thanksgiving weekend, seeing a copy of this book instantly put a smile on my face and filled me with that warm fuzzy feeling that only a particularly good childhood book can.
The Monster at the End of This Book stars “loveable, furry, old Grover,” the Sesame Street character who was popular prior to the advent of Tickle-Me-Elmo and the onslaught of Elmo merchandise that followed. For parents who feel in desperate need of a break from a furry red monster talking in the third person, this is the book.
Grover, whose dialogue makes up the text of the book, reads the title and realizes that there will be a monster at the end of the book.
Oh no! He's terribly afraid of monsters and begs the reader to stop turning the pages so that he can avoid meeting the scary monster at the end.
Grover tries tying the pages together, putting up a brick wall, and eventually resorts to begging. Of course, the reader just keeps turning the pages.
But wait – here we are at the end of the book, but where is the monster? Of course, it turns out that Grover is the monster mentioned in the title all along. Grover tries to save face, accusing the reader of having been scared, but he thinks to himself his signature phrase, “Oh, I am so embarrassed!”
While Grover may be embarrassed about the events in The Monster at the End of this Book, children love this silly straightforward tale of facing fears and finding there may be nothing to be afraid of after all.
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