REVIEW: Grobblechops by Elizabeth Laird
Amir is worried about the little monster lurking under the bed. What if it tries to eat him up?! And what if that monster has a dad and a mom too? As Amir’s dad tucks him in, Amir wonders if the monster might just become a friend instead… This classic bedtime fear is hilariously brought to life by award-winning author Elizabeth Laird and Finnish illustrator Jenny Luncander. A timeless tale of monsters under the bed, based on a story from Masnavi, one of the best-known and most influential works by the thirteenth century poet, philosopher and Sufi mystic Rumi.
Dear Ms. Laird,
It is the cute monster on the cover which drew my attention to this book. I also wanted to know about the inspiration for it. Who hasn’t had a monster to deal with at some point? Mine was in my closet and I just knew, as soon as the sun went down and my room got dark, it was there, lurking, ready to spring out and grab me.
Little Amir, and his teddy, faces his own monster. His dad is there, ready to reassure him that it’s okay and that he’ll protect Amir, But Amir is a master of “what if” questions and it takes (endlessly given) patience and ingenuity from his dad to calm all Amir’s fears.
The artwork is radically different from a lot of children’s picture books and has a kinetic quality that makes them appear to be in motion as well as showing an interesting skewed perspective. This alone will probably get a child’s interest. The cuteness of the monster, named Grobblechops, won’t scare them either. I had fun carefully looking at the progression of the illustrations – especially Amir’s teddy. One request would have been to include more information on the source of the story, B-
~Jayne
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