Monster Boogie moves to a book beat for ages 2-6

Laurie Berkner is a rock star in the world of children. She’s the most well known kindie artist ever and to millions of parents all over the world that’s saying something. Her songs have helped countless kids get their sillies out, learn about feelings and allowed sing-alongs in the car to continue for much longer than they otherwise would have. Monster Boogie is her third foray into books and it’s certain to be a welcome, home run of a book for some in the audience.

The illustrations in Monster Boogie are done by Ben Clanton, who also did them in We Are The Dinosaurs. Clanton is a rock star unto his own right with some of his books in our house being Rot, Narwhal, Super Narwhal and Rex Wrecks It! His illustrations have a large, fun, silly vibe that suits Monster Boogie very well.

The text in Monster Boogie are the lyrics from the song that Laurie Berkner does so well. If you’re reading the book before you hear the song you might leave the book feeling, well, kind of empty. That’s it?-you might be tempted to think. Keep in mind that the song builds up to two series of dance-offs where the kids, or anyone so inclined, can get up, dance their sillies out or in the case of the book, also get ready for bed

Also remember that the song, which is the text for the book, has a target audience of ages 2 and up. The book, Monster Boogie can best be thought of as a very large board book, albeit with non-board pages. Let me explain. The pictures and words feel like they belong in a board book. You know, those thick paged books that young children can turn easily or possibly chew on with little to no repercussions.

Those non-board books have pages that are thinner and could rip, unlike their board brethren which require gorilla strength to rip.

Monster Boogie is a fun, active, read along book for ages 2 through 5. If adult readers pace the book properly then it could be read to pump kids up or to calm them down for bed time. The book ends with the monster turning off the light so that the kids can go to sleep. This is great good-night book comfort food with a shelf life that isn’t as long as some of the other books in your kid library.

Once kids reach around 5 they’ll probably, publically lose interest in Monster Boogie and say “it’s for babies”. Even our 8-year old read the book, but he quickly did so said ‘it’s for babies’ and gave it to his  younger brother. In this case the jury pool was tainted. Your young readers, especially those that listened to Berkner’s work will love this book.