Monsters Eat Whiny Children Hardcover – Picture Book, August 31, 2010

I bought this as a sort-of-prize for a friend's baby shower, where we played a game called "The Ball of Happiness", which involved all of the women gathering around a giant ball of bubble-wrapped, duct-taped goodies and attempting to pull items loose and unravel the ball to get the most prizes. This book was a huge hit, the mom who pulled it out of the ball of happiness laughed instantly and thought it was brilliant.I did read the book before wrapping it up as a prize for the game, and found that the ending is lovable, and I honestly felt that it wouldn't psychologically-scar whichever child would end up reading it.

My 4 year old granddaughter had started to whine a lot, and I saw this book. Wasn't sure which way it was going to go; if she would embrace the book or reject it. But she LOVES THIS BOOK. It is a cute story, and the children never really get harmed. I've been careful not to verbally connect this with her whiny behaviors so she wouldn't feel badly or criticized. However, it seems she has made the connection between whiny behaviors in general and their inappropriateness, because she rarely whines anymore. This book has become one of her favorite bedtime stories.

I bought this with no real intention of reading it to my daughter until she was quite a bit older. However, it is not "scary" and my daughter (who turned 2 just after I started reading it to her) absolutely loves it. It is her first or second choice almost every night. My wife, suspicious of it, sat in on one of the readings, and ended up laughing through most of the book. She found it to be completely acceptable. It is funny enough for adults that I will enjoy reading it to a table of people the next time we have some over. GREAT book!

I really was intending my kids to be scared when I read this book to them because they whine A LOT. It started off good and I could tell my 4 year old was a little worried. We had to stop reading a few pages in because we had to be somewhere. My daughter kept asking when we were going to finish the book - she was concerned that the kids weren't going to make it. I should have never finished it because during those few hours when there was that uncertainty, my life was bliss. The book is cute and entertaining and the title alone makes people laugh.

I bought this for my 4.5 year old daughter who may be a bit young for the humor but enjoys seeing her daddy laugh when I read it. The dry humor Kaplan uses in this clever tale has me laughing every time. Much of the humor can be found in the simple illustrations, portraying the mischevious children as oh so innocent and the monsters as oh so familiar. I also have a copy of this book in my third grade classroom, and it has quickly become a favorite among my 8 and 9 year old students.

I am not sure why this book has received praise at all. Reading this book was very disappointing. The story is disjointed and failed to make sense at nearly every turn of the page. I feel that the author was just lazy, and all those involved in the review process (if there was any) also failed to put forth any real effort with this one. I don't expect much out of my children's books, but I do expect a small measure of imagination and effort. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

I was intrigued by the title of this book and the lesson to be learnt.... Who wouldn't like a little less whining in their lives? :) I am happy to add it to my collection of children's books, but I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't a little disappointed. The illustrations left a lot to be desired- I suspect that it's supposed to be a sort of simple, minimalist approach which may suit the tastes of some, but most of the kids that I know are captivated by vivid and fun images at storytime. I also would have liked it if the behavior behind whining was addressed just a teeeeensy bit more, just to drive the point home. I did enjoy the humor and the book includes some fun vocabulary words (like 'paprika' and 'spittle'), I just wouldn't expect many children to take much away from reading it.

Like some of the other reviewers have said. if your kid's have a sense of humor and joke this is the book for the whole family. I have a 3 and 4 year old and they both enjoy reading the book. We've read it enough they "read " it their selves ( which cracks me up). If your kids are kind of timid or haven't grasped joking yet , it may not be the book for you.