Amir, a very imaginative little boy, and his equally imaginative dad, have a wonderful conversation about monsters and night-time. Amir does NOT want to go to bed, and when dad enquires why, Amir confesses he thinks there might be a monster, ‘He might come in the night, and he might have huge teeth and growl like a lion. He might try to eat me.’ Dad recommends that Amir scares the monster back, but Amir isn’t having it. Dad then says he will come with his ‘frying pan and shake it at him’ but Amir is sure there will be a daddy monster who will come and try to eat his own daddy, and soon there are mummy and daddy monsters who are joining the contest to see who can eat whom. Dad very sensibly at this point explains that grown-ups, even monster grown-ups, much prefer arguing to fighting, so they can all sit down and argue over the problem and come up with a solution while Amir plays with the small monster. Amir isn’t too sure about this; he doesn’t know how to go about playing with a monster, but when dad says that he can show him is toy cars, Amir begins to accept that possibility. Soon he is off to bed, leaving the door open just a little for light. What is his monster’s name, asks dad? ‘Grobblechops’ a sleepy voice replies.
An endearing story with wonderful, evocative pictures of both monsters and people in a setting redolent of the Asian family it portrays. Based on a story by Rumi, a 13thC poet and philosopher, this portrayal of how to handle fear and anger is as colourful as it is truthful.