Monster & Son

“Sly inter­play between sweet-natured verse and not-so-sweet-natured activ­i­ties pro­vide mis­chie­vous laughs in this mon­ster-themed ode to chil­dren from their par­ents. The par­ents in ques­tion are myth­i­cal and super­nat­ur­al creatures—including ghosts, were­wolves, vam­pires, etc.—that Chou ren­ders as simul­ta­ne­ous­ly adorable and destruc­tive in crisp dig­i­tal art­work with a sub­dued, creamy palette. The innocu­ous­ness of LaRochelle’s gen­tle rhymes con­trasts delight­ful­ly with the hav­oc being wrought. “You woke me with a mon­strous roar, my brave and fear­less son,” he writes as a dinosaur­like crea­ture smash­es a city to bits with his excit­ed morn­ing ener­gy (his par­ent lies sleep­ing atop anoth­er city across the bay). After a page turn, the rhyme com­pletes (“and led the way that filled our day with rough and row­dy fun”) as sea ser­pents toss a beach ball back and forth, caus­ing sail­boats to floun­der and sink … when par­ents love their child, LaRochelle sug­gests, noth­ing else mat­ters.” (Pub­lish­ers Week­ly)