Monsters

Salina Yoon's 'Monsters' is a charming and highly accessible board book designed for the youngest readers, despite the broad age range listed. The book's brevity, at just 12 pages, combined with its 'toy and movable book' format, strongly suggests a target audience of toddlers and preschoolers. It offers a very gentle introduction to Halloween themes, portraying various monsters in a playful, non-threatening manner as they 'haunt' houses and graveyards. The emotional arc is light and fun, aiming to spark curiosity and joy rather than fear. This book is specifically for children who are just beginning to understand holidays or those who might be a little apprehensive about 'spooky' things, offering a safe and friendly encounter with monsters. A parent would reach for this book when preparing for Halloween, or simply looking for an engaging, interactive read-aloud that is quick and entertaining. For younger children (ages 0-3), it's a perfect lap-read, allowing them to interact with any movable parts. Older children (4-5) might enjoy the simple narrative and identifying the different monsters, but the content may be too simplistic for the upper end of the stated age range (6-11). What sets it apart from other monster or Halloween books is its likely interactive format, making it more of a toy-book experience, and its extremely gentle approach to a potentially scary topic.