Everything I Know About Monsters : A Collection of Made-up Facts, Educated Guesses, and Silly Pictures about Creatures of Creepiness

by Tom Lichtenheld

Where did all these monsters come from?
The closet, the basement, under the bed, the outhouse, even the school furnace room! But mostly, they came from a healthy imagination, just like yours!
Using a patented system of made-up facts and educated guesses, Everything I Know About Monsters reveals all the gory details about creatures of what they eat (dirty socks), what's in their brains (not much), and how to scare them out of the basement (stand at the top of the stairs, bang pots and pans together, and yell very loudly).
So turn on all the lights in the house and get comfortable. You're about to learn so much about monsters, it's scary!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Monsters, Humor, Nonfiction

40 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2002

About the author

Children's book author/illustrator writes for kids who love to laugh and grown-ups who love to laugh along with them. When not making up stories and drawing silly pictures, he likes to get other people's kids all riled-up then send them home to their parents.

Reviews

[Lacy | literary_lacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I would have looked inside this book before checking it out. It is long! Much too long for my kids to sit through, and for me to want to read in one sitting. It was silly, and enjoyable, but I definitely would have waited until my daughter was older to get it, if I had known how long it was.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oof, this had way too many words on each page. It was challenging to hold interest in it. I want a big fan of the illustrative style, either. I think it was supposed to be humorous, but because of how wordy it was, it just wasn't funny to me.

[Krysta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved how this took humor and creativity to inspire more imagination in its reader.

[Trisha Carter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clever and funny, but unfortunately uses some language I don't like to encourage.

[Ro · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Monster]

On the first page of Everything I Know about Monsters, author Lichtenheld admits that there are no such things as monsters outside of the ones created by our imagination. He then proceeds to give us a tour of the various monsters from his imagination. Lichtenheld’s creatures are commonplace monsters- the monster under the bed, the monster in the closet, and the various monsters in the basement. Lichtenheld’s guide makes them relatively harmless and easy to get rid of. The illustrations are light, humorous, and complementary to the text. Everything I Know about Monsters will be a favorite of small children for its illustrations, and the humorous text (and gross-out factor) will also appeal to older elementary students, especially boys, looking a fun monster book.

[Heidi-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A perfect book for school-age children with great imaginations and good senses of humor. A couple of parts that may be over their head, but they won't let it stop them. The humor in Lichtenheld's books increases if you know to look for a laugh in basically everything on the page. Because I have never failed to find it everywhere, and I believe that's why I enjoy his work so much.

Too long for a storytime of any age, and probably a preferred read-alone for the older child. I believe some of the humor in a couple of Lichtenheld's books would not be as funny to the older child if an adult was reading it to them.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

An imaginative guide to all types of monsters. A lengthy picture book full of diagrams best decribes this book. A great read for independent readers, especially those who are creative as the author ends with an invitation to create your own monster creations by including a monster name generator. Grades 2-4.

[Andrea Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book the author describes the wide variety of monsters only after stating that monsters aren't real and that they only exist in our imaginations. It's a very cool book with amazing illustrations that are a lot to look at. The pages are somewhat long, a better read for around the 3rd grade level. It's a very original book and has a lot of humor that kids would love.

[Sarah Threlkeld · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clever approach to monsters that will appeal to 2nd-4th graders. The pages are packed with text, which may overwhelm struggling readers, but the illustrations are so detailed that kids could "read" those and still enjoy the book immensely. Could be used as part of a writing activity where kids create and describe their own monster.

[Finny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mommy says: Loved it, esp. the part where you combine words from 3 columns to make up new monster names, such as the hairy-lipped parent.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book that seems like it could prompt imaginative thinking about the topic--what other kinds of monsters are there? And what are they like? Where do they live? etc. Lively voice.

[Marta-Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read aloud for school aged kids with tons of detailed illustrations that will have them finding something new each time it's read and shared.

[Robin Raines-Bond · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this "collection of made-up facts, educated guesses, and silly pictures about creatures of creepiness". This boy has a HUGE imagination. A truly fun read.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is very similar to his other "Everything think I know about . . ." books--excellent voice and wonderful imagination.

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute book explaining is wild detail about different childhood monsters: where they live, what they eat, etc.
A little wordy, but a cute book with gross pictures that little kids are sure to love.