When Lions Roar
by Robie Harris
IL by Chris Raschka
Someone gave my grandson an innocuous stuffed doll with BIG eyes.
When he saw it, his eyes got even bigger than “the scary guy’s.” (that’s what he called him). I wish I’d had this book with me then. With Robie Harris’s short yet powerful sentences and Chris Raschka’s bursts of heartfelt illustration, everyday terrors (to kids) spring up but quickly get squashed.All you have to do is close your eyes and command the “scary” to go away. Peace and happiness are restored.
PS “Scary Guy” stayed in the closet for a day until, miraculously, it disappeared.

Bogeyman 101 (A Survival Guide) arriving in August

Rocking Horse Press is publishing Bogeyman 101 this August!

Off beat for off beat parents and teachers

Knock! Knock! Knock! Who’s There? By Phillippe Goosens didn’t just surprise me. It made me laugh out loud. At first, I worried along with Bear when knocks from suspicious characters came in the middle of the night. A ghost, an ogre, a wolf and a witch, that’s who seem to want to come in. When Bear finds out it is his friend Archibald who’s knocking, he throws open the door. But Archibald has a surprise for bear. He brought new friends, the ghost, an ogre, wolf and witch.

To continue on an “off beat,”

 read a Mammoth in the Fridge by Michael Escoffier, illustrated by Mathieu Maudet. The mammoth’s embarrassment, the understated reaction from the family and firemen who chase him, make this story hilarious. How did the mammoth get in the fridge? Who put him there? That’s for you to find out.

Usually I pick books that make me laugh. Not this time. The Invisible Boy made me smile-sigh.
We all remember what it's like to be ignored, don't we? Sometimes it feels worse than being mocked.
What made The Invisible Boy special was that it's our hero, quiet Brian, who solves his own problem. He shows compassion to a new kid, who, instead of being ignored, like Brian is, is ridiculed. A nice addition is a bibliography at the back for adults and kids if they want to read more about "quiet" kids.

by Trudy Ludwig, 

Illustrated by Patrice Barton

By Alexis Deacon IL. by Vivianne Schwartz The book starts with one rat and one piece of cheese. Rat Law says Rat 1 gets to keep it unless a bigger, or stronger, or scary, (and so on) rat wants it. You know what this leads to… a riot. Then, when Rat 1 finally gets back the cheese, something shocking happens. Rat 1 asks, “Would anybody else want some?” the answer is even more shocking. “Yes, Please.” You can guess the moral to this story. I didn’t! A shockingly good ending.

I'm not Saying this is true. I'm saying it's fun! The Loch Ness Monster!

OCIETY

Loch Ness Monster Enthusiasts Claim To Have Found Mythical Creature Via Apple Maps (Photos)

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New satellite images which show what appears to be the Loch Ness Monster 

swimming below the surface of the loch in Scotland have been found using Apple Maps 

app.

There had been fears the mythical creature had died after more than a year 

without reported sighting.

According to the Daily Mail, the photos, which could only be seen on 

some iPads and iPhones, were captured by two different amateur Nessie 

(as the monster is widely known) enthusiasts, Peter Thain of Northumberland 

and Andy Dixon of County Durham.

“It was purely by accident that I came across the image,” Dixon said. 

“I was trawling through satellite transmissions of different parts of the country 

and I thought I would try Loch Ness.

“I could see something big under the water and I saved it to my phone. 

My first thought was that it was the monster and I contacted Gary Campbell of the 

Official Loch Ness Monster Club.

“I was a believer in Nessie even before this but I had never seen it. 

Now I am so excited, I can't wait to get up north and pay a visit - 

with a camera of course. Unfortunately I have not seen anything since 

but I will keep looking.”

Veteran Nessie-hunter Campbell said there is no way that the image 

can be anything other than of the monster.

"'When Andy got in touch at the beginning of the year, we finally managed to locate 

a device that had the image on it and asked some boating experts to look at it," 

Campbell said, according to the Mail. "They confirmed that while it looks like a 

boat wake, it cannot be a boat as there is no hull or superstructure visible. This is

 confirmed by the fact that there are clear images of other boats in the pictures.

"Whatever it is, it's just below the surface and heading south, so unless

 there have been secret submarine trials going on in the loch, the size of the object 

would make it likely to be Nessie."

After looking at the photo, what do you think? Could it really be the Loch Ness Monster? 

Deep-sea biologist Andrew David Thaler says: “It’s been a long time 

since we’ve had a good debunking-random-monster-sighting post.”

Piggie Pie! by Margie Palatini
Piggie Pie! is a scary plot (will Witch Gritch find the pigs and bake them into a pie?), but it’s loaded with laughs. When Gritch locates some pigs (by way of the Yellow Pages, of course), she heads to Old MacDonald’s farm. Ala “The Wizard of Oz,” she writes “Surrender Piggies!” in the sky.
By the way, did you know pigs are smart? Gritch doesn’t. The pigs pull on disguises. They have costumes for a cow, ducks, chickens, and finally, the farmer Old MacDonald. Gritch threatens everyone, even the chickens. The chickens (pigs) cluck cluck here and cluck cluck there, but won’t give up the pigs.
Gritch, defeated, hungry, and still stupid, runs into the wolf (Remember Three Little Pigs?), who is also defeated, hungry and still stupid. Arm in arm they go to Gritch's house for lunch. The reader wonders, “Who will eat whom?”