What Do You Do When a Monster Says Boo?

by Hope Vestergaard, Maggie Smith (Illustrator)

The author of Driving Daddy offers rhyming wit and wisdom for dealing with the monstrous behavior of a younger sibling who throws tantrums and pesters her older brother.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Monsters

32 pages, Hardcover

First published August 17, 2006

About the author

Hope Vestergaard, a former early childhood teacher, is the author of several books for children. She lives with her husband and two sons, as well as cows, horses, pigs, and dogs, on a small farm outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book about how an older child should handle their younger sibling's antics. A little girl, dressed up like a "monster" in most of the pictures, does things that bother her brother. What should he do in response? Be kind, be understanding, be loving.

[Cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

You really need to listen to kids - they have the most honest and heartfelt opinions. The other day a 9 year old girl, who has 5 year old twin siblings at home, told me that What do you do when a monster says Boo was the "greatest book ever." She said that younger brothers and sisters can really be annoying and when they are acting up, and that this book gives good ideas on things you can do with them instead of hitting them. Yeah, I thought a book that suggested other things besides hitting couldn't be all bad, so I gave it a read, and am now taking it home for my daughter to read and with her little brother!

[Alexander The Triumphant · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book tells you what to do when a monster says boo. -by Alexander

[Cassie Veselovsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

You really need to listen to kids - they have the most honest and heartfelt opinions. The other day a 9 year old girl, who has 5 year old twin siblings at home, told me that What do you do when a monster says Boo was the "greatest book ever." She said that younger brothers and sisters can really be annoying and when they are acting up, and that this book gives good ideas on things you can do with them instead of hitting them. Yeah, I thought a book that suggested other things besides hitting couldn't be all bad, so I gave it a read, and am now taking it home for my daughter to read and with her little brother!

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extension activity would be to have the child try to guess a solution to the problem before reading what the book wrote.

[Niena Ramirez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose the book, "What do you do when a monster says boo?" by Hope Vestergaard because of the cover. The illustrations in this book are very detailed and go along very well with the text. This book would be great for any elementary classroom due to the smaller words and sentence structure. The author did a great job explaining the things one may do to annoy a person and what to do in response. For example, "What do you do when a monster feels blue? Ignore it completely and play with your games? Tease it and poke it and call it bad names? No, no, no! The best thing to do when a monster feels blue is invite it on over to snuggle with you.". In this example it gives a couple wrong solutions then one that seems right so the children can see the difference between manners. I highly recommend this book for the classroom.

[Taahira · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I think it is a great and fun way to promote prosocial dealings with family members, even if it's your annoying little sister. It shows what you could do, then it shows what you SHOULD do to help and calm your sibling. It's a very cute book, the pictures are funny, and I think children will really like it too. Although this book does not have a plot, I think children could retell this story in a way that is specific to them.

[The Brothers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of an older brother dealing with all the silliness of a monster (his little sister). Every time she does something (like have bad breath or pull hair) he offers some not so good solutions. But then contradicts those suggestions with No, No, NO! and offers some really good advice. Dex (3yo) loved this book.

Cute illustrations.

[Ashley Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. A younger aged child would enjoy it much more than an older child. It is repetitive so once the child hears it a couple times they might be able to follow along and halfway read with the reader filling in the blank. It had a bunch of exciting phases that you could make the children smile and laugh. Read for entertainment not for a subject.

[Robin Rockman · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has a very similar rhythm, wording, and flow as Jane Yolen's "How Does a Dinosaur...", but what makes this special in it;s own right is that is attempts to teach patience and kindness to older siblings when dealing with the monster-like antics of their younger sibling.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fun book about an older brother's patience with his little sister. I think it would be a good book to read to an older child who is frustrated with his or her sibling.

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

my toddler just loves this book. I enjoy it as well. It also teaches big kids how they should act with little kids.

[Jenya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a cute story and the pictures were really cute!

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

We got this book from the library it is so cute. Just like my little ones. I am going to have to buy this.

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book relates the behavior of a young kid to that of a monster. I think I liked this one more than the kids in my story time.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book to read to preschool age older siblings. All the ways to get along well with a little sister

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute