Go Away, Big Green Monster! (Book)

Emberley, E. (1992). Go away, big green monster!. Boston, MA: Little Brown Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 978-0-316-23653-9

Interest Level: Ages 5 and under
Genre: Picture Book
Subjects/Themes: Die-cut pages, Monsters, Fear,

Plot: Meet the big green monster.  This story introduces the reader to the big green monster one feature at a time.  Purple scraggly purple hair, big yellow eyes, and sharp white teeth are only a few of the scary features that make up the big green monster.  After the whole monster is slowly revealed to the reader, the reader responds "Go Away!" to each feature until the whole monster is gone and isn't allowed to come back until the reader says so. 

Personal Thoughts: A wonderfully made book.  The use of die-cuts to slowly reveal the monster and make him disappear again are ingeniously constructed.  I made a felt board version of this book a few years ago for a preschool story time which also included the words for hair, eyes, mouth, nose, and teeth.  I had the children help me match the words to the features which encouraged word recognition.  The children especially love saying "Go Away.." with me as I'm reading the book.  This book is great for bedtime, monsters, or talking about fears themed storytimes. 

Awards/Recognition:
Black-Eyed Susan Book Awards (Maryland) (1995)

Author's Website: Ed Emberley's Website
Other Books by the Author: Glad monster, sad monster: a book about feelings (1997); Bye-bye, big bad bullybug! (2007);