Monsters Eat Whiny Children

Monsters Eat Whiny Children
by Bruce Eric Kaplan
Simon and Schuster, 2010. Unpaged. Picture Book.

Henry and Eve are "two perfectly delightful children" who are going through a terrible phase of endless whining. Their kindly father warns them that monsters eat whiny children but they don't believe it until a monster shows up with a drawstring bag and spirits them away to his "lair on the bad side of town." Once there he starts to assemble a Whiny Children Salad but Henry whines because he doesn't like to sit on lettuce and Eve doesn't want to sit in a wooden bowl. Mrs. Monster wants paprika on the salad instead of cilantro in the salad but Mr. Monster hates paprika so in turn they decide to grill whiny-child burgers, make whiny-child cake, and finally settle on whiny-child cucumber sandwiches. While all this is going on around them, Henry and Eve start to play with the monsters' toys and then climb out the window and run back home. This delightful cautionary tale should play equally well with children and adults, laughs to be had all around. Since Kaplan dedicates the book to "Henry and Eve, of course," one may detect an autobiographical strain.