What A Bad Dream

Little Critter

by Mercer Mayer

Mercer Mayer's Little Critter is having a very bad dream in this classic, funny, and heartwarming book.

In his dream, Little Critter turns into a fearful monster that is so scary that he can do whatever he wants, but he discovers that he does not like being alone. Whether he's tossing in his sleep or needing a warm glass of milk, both parents and children alike will relate to this beloved story. A perfect way to alleviate any fears of bad dreams!

Mercer Mayer's Little Critter stories, which address all the major issues of growing up, are perennial favorites to generations of readers of all ages.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Family, Kids, Humor, Halloween

24 pages, Paperback

First published August 6, 1999

About the author

Mercer Mayer is an American children's author and illustrator. He has published over 300 books, using a wide range of illustrative styles. Mayer is best known for his Little Critter and Little Monster series of books.

Reviews

[Bronwyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty cute. I prefer the Berenstain Bears’ bad dream book, but my son liked this pretty well.

Read for the first time in the year: January 12, 2021

[Faloni © · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dream gone wrong, but a story so right! 💭😲 Little Critter makes me want to sip dairy at night.

~ young author ✍🏾

[Carmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a child, this was one of my favorite books. I've always loved the Little Critter books and getting to see all his (mis)adventures! I especially love this one, because it has the same excitable feeling during Halloween, when you get to dress up and become a creepy critter for the night. Romp around town with all your friends and eat TONS of candy! I'm 23 now, and this is still one of my favorite children's books. Highly recommended!!!!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little Critter dreams that he turns into a Little Monster (and gets to do all the things he wants to do). But little monsters scare away mom and dad, so when he wakes up he is relieved that the dream isn't reality.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute story and being bad was fun for my son, I was a little worried at first, but Mercer Mayer came through in the end and got the little Critter safe at home again with his safe and caring parents. This was a Good Read.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little Critter fell asleep and dreamt he mixed up and drank a magic potion that changed him into a scary critter. Even his parents left him alone - which he enjoyed ... for awhile. Fortunately, it was only a dream. Cute story.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another favorite from the Little Critter series.

[Emili]

I chose this book because I grew up not only with this book, but the whole series. They are fun and sweet, and my kids love them.

[Chantal · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations in this book scared me when I was a little kid reading this book.

[KaitandMaddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The kids enjoyed these, particularly the humour. And they’ve aged well.

[Leilani Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Little Critter is still such a loved series.

[Roberto Galindo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The kid was given a chance to live in our day. Bro couldn't take it 😂 Who would've known our world was predicted as such a nightmare

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a confession to make. I wasn't actually into the Little Critter books as a kid. This might be the first time in my life that I've actually finished a Little Critter book. Thankfully, this comes with the benefit of making this particular review is 100% nostalgia free.

As an adult with an artistic hobby, I sometimes like to read children's picture books to get art inspiration and I gotta say, I really love the artwork in this. It's mostly a bunch of pages of a winged little demon child doing various bad things and eating lots of junk food and as a result there's a chaotic, messy energy to this that I deeply admire. In particular, I love that you can tell how skilled of an artist Mercer Mayer is in this book and how much he grasps human anatomy just from the way he draws the pet gorilla that shows up halfway through the book. That pet gorilla is a very well-drawn gorilla with perfect arm proportions.

I also like that each page hides both a grasshopper and a spider in every illustration. As a kid, I loved it when my book also had a secret look-and-find game I could play with the pictures, so kudos to the artist for understanding how young minds think.

But alas, a book about little winged hamsters eating pizza slices with apes is not perfect. It feels like the two core lessons of the book - "nightmares aren't real" and "when you're mean to people, you end up alone" - are both skimmed through pretty fast in this book. And the second one feels like it doesn't totally apply because sure, Little Critter's parents aren't there, but he also has that really cool gorilla living in his house now.

...which means that a critique that I have of this book is "there should've been a scene where the gorilla shows that he doesn't have the same warmth and affection to Little Critter as his parents" and boy, isn't that a sentence.

[Patricia Bleile · Rating 5 out of 5]

Little Critter dreams that a magic potion turns him into a fearsome creature who scares everyone so much they leave him alone to do whatever he wants.

[Laurajean Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Theses books have my granddaughter loving reading

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Synopsis: "In his dream, Little Critter turns into a monster that is so scary that he can do whatever he wants, but he discovers that he does not like being alone."

My Review: We love Little Critter books and with Munchkin suffering from bad dreams I thought this would be a great book to convey that it is all pretend. This wasn't quite what I expected but it did trigger some of the conversations with Munchkin about dreams that I was hoping for. Still a great book for Little Critter fans.

[Genny Flett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little Critter has a dream that he drinks a magic potion and becomes a monster. At first he loves being a monster because he can do whatever he wants and doesn't have to follow any rules, but he soon becomes lonely and sad and wants his parents back.

Love Little Critter books! This could be used to help students think of creative writing ideas or could be used for talking about dreams/fantasies.

[Emma Daugherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was a child I used to love "the little critter books" by Mercer Mayer. One of my absolute favorites was this one. The detailed water color paintings are fun for kids to look at. This book is simple and easy to read. It also teaches children a valuable lesson appreciation. Little critter realizes at the end of the book that sometimes we take adults and rules for granted and wish for things that aren't as great as they may seem.

[Tina]

I read this to my seven-year-old niece while my husband added sound effects. My niece enjoyed the book. She is not necessarily prone to nightmare or bad dreams but she was telling me about a scary movie she saw recently & she worked to keep it from scaring her. This story was apropos since we talking about being scared and what to do to keep things light. I hope my husband & I created a memory for her while showing her how to bring on a smile when fear rears its ugly head.

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute little story- the kid has a bad dream and the dream involved being allowed to do whatever he wants to do. Once he's all tuckered out he realizes there is no one there to kiss him goodnight or help him when he's scared.
My daughter is three and I think the actual lesson went over her head but besides that it's a cute story I thought.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book Little Critter got to do whatever he wanted, eat what he wanted, and went where he wanted after drinking a magic potion. For a while he thinks life is great being in charge of himself however after a while he realized his missed his mom and dad and wanted them to come back. Luckily, it was only a dream.

[Christy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little Critter, Mercer Mayer's beloved character, stars in his own bad dream. Turning himself into a scary, disagreeable monster who won't go to school or take a bath or eat anything but fudge pops and pizza, Little Critter discovers that his family has decided to go away and leave him alone. Trapped in a lonely dream, Little Critter has to make a choice. The sweet and fun

[Miri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an adorable story. Little Critter falls asleep and dreams that he drinks a magic potion that turns him into a monster. At first he has a lot of fun, eating whatever he wants, staying up late, but then he misses him family. Luckily his mom and dad are there to tell him it was all just a bad dream.

[Rosa Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little Critter falls asleep and starts to dream. He dreams he changes similar to Dr Jekle and Mr Hyde he enjoys his day to do what ever he wants and acts the way he wants. But then at the end of the day when he gets sleepy there is no one to read to him, to tuck him in and no one to love him. He wakes from his dream and his mom and dad are there reassuring him. A very nice story for children.

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

We have a lot of these, because they're so inexpensive.

I don't like how Little Critter spends most of his dream being mean to his parents. Sure, he eventually feels lonely and sad and wakes up from his nightmare (since that's what it is), but it still sits wrong with me.

[Kelly Thevenot · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a Bad Dream is a book that uses imagination. You could incorporate this book into a lesson of dreams and fantasy. You could ask some children to describe their dreams and have them write about it. At the end of his bad dream, his parents were there to comfort him and make him feel better.

[Lexi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little Critter has a scary dream where he is the monster. He has to make a choice to help end his dream. A great book for any student who has a bad dream to remember that it isn't true and its only a dream.

[Mary Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little Critter is having a nightmare! He dreams that he drank a magic potion, that turned him into a monster! His whole family leaves and he adopts a gorilla and together they have adventures of their very own! But is this a dream come true, or his worst nightmare?

[Clara · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was a sarey book and it was very good

[Cece · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is amusing. The dream includes ordering pizza, not bathing, eating cookies and ice cream, but the scary part of it was not having someone to hug.