FROM THE PUBLISHER

>Bobo is a young monster who's afraid to sleep in his own bed. He is sure there is a boy hiding beneath it - a boy with "pink skin and orange fur on his head where his horns should be." Bobo's older brother thinks he's a fraidy-cat, but his grandpa, Boo-Dad, knows all about these fearful creatures. And Boo-Dad knows exactly what to do to scare them away. But after being afraid for so long, Bobo might just want to take matters into his own paws and find out if the creature under his bed really is as bad as he thinks.

This rambunctious story of a youngster overcoming anxiety and limitations is set in a captivating otherworld that springs to life in pictures full of enchantment and surprise.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

This disarming monster-under-the-bed story upholds the tradition of tales such as Mercer Mayer's There's a Nightmare in My Closet but reverses the roles. Bobo is a nervous monster child with a monkeylike body, round snout and yellow horns. I'm not fooling you: there's a boy who hides in my big old monster closet, he insists. Bobo shudders to think of the boy's pink skin and orange fur on his head where his horns by right should be. He confides his fears to his grandfather, Boo-Dad, while they eat homemade bread with jitterbug jam. In return, Boo-Dad tells a story (pictured in a gauzy, nostalgic garden sequence that alludes to Rackham and Tenniel) about his terrifying childhood encounter with a girl and advises Bobo on dealing with humans. In the inevitable confrontation, Bobo finds that he and the boy have much in common, such as bossy older brothers. Hicks, making his debut, tells the tale from Bobo's quaint viewpoint. I'm no fraidy-cat, neither, Bobo protests, shivering at the boy's scritch-scratch-skittering and running for cover quick as lickety-split 'n' spit-fish. Deacon (Beegu) pictures the hairless, beige-skinned monsters as not quite cute, not quite scary. The middle-distance perspective keeps them safely at arm's length and except at the moment he bravely speaks to the boy Bobo lowers his head and does not look readers in the eye. The colloquial voice and uncanny illustrations create a slightly surreal, dreamy ambience, and the reassuring conclusion respects Bobo's (or anyone's) fear of the unknown. Ages 3-8. (Mar.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3-In this tale of bedtime anxiety, Little Bobo is teased by his older brother because he's afraid of a boy under his bed. Yet the young monster claims he's "no fraidy-cat, neither," because who wouldn't "be scared of a boy with pink skin and orange fur on his head where his horns by right should be, and eyes that awful color the sky is when you wake up in the middle of the day-." Then Boo-Dad (grandfather) shows up. As family members swig hot bug juice and eat slabs of homemade bread with jitterbug jam, he tells of his own childhood encounter with a human. Bobo finds comfort and courage in the tale, and, at bedtime, when the boy appears, Bobo is ready for him. The story is told in an on-again-off-again folksy dialect, and is too lengthy and confusing for young audiences. For example, the beginning of Boo-Dad's tale is visually set apart from the rest of the story, but there is no clear ending. Despite the textual problems, the art is beautiful. With muted colors, black outlines, and shadows, it will both enchant and frighten young readers. Carefully detailed bugs and other critters frame Boo-Dad's story and cover the walls, Mama's dress, and the endpapers. The text is presented in traditional format and dialogue balloons. The book's audience is older children who have outgrown their fear of monsters.-Carolyn Janssen, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

"Not going to bed. Now nor never." Sure that there's a scary boy lurking beneath his bed, little monster Bobo hides in a cupboard, until a story from comfortingly massive Boo-Dad, about how he once met a (shudder) girl, teases him out. Hicks gives the tale a fluent country cadence, folding in colorful turns of phrase while dropping the occasional auxiliary or "be" verb, and in a style that echoes Barbara McClintock's neoclassicism, Deacon depicts a family of droopy-horned, not very frightening monsters in a cozy, familiar domestic setting. When Bobo actually does find a red-headed lad beneath the bed-visiting from the other side of the closet-rather than curl up in terror, he takes Boo-Dad's advice to grin and make friendly overtures. In no time, the two young 'uns are chatting companionably. Far and away the best reversal of Mercer Mayer's elemental There's a Monster in My Closet premise since Robert L. Crowe's Clyde Monster (1976), and Jeanne Willis's Monster Bed (1986), this will have younger readers, timorous or otherwise, flocking to it "quick as lickety-split 'n' spit-fish." (Picture book. 5-8)