reviewed

A boy is afraid of what is in the closet.

One of my children's favorites, and now one of my grandchildren's favorites. A little boy decides to do something about the Nightmare that is hiding in his bedroom closet, with surprising results. Fun story, fantastic artwork! ( )

This book is about a boy who decides to confront the nightmare in his closet. At first he is going to shot the nightmare but in the end he tucks the nightmare in his bed and gets into bed with him. He then states that if there were to be another nightmare how closet there is no room in the bed for him. The illustrations are done in black and white with little color. They are drawn in pencil. This books ending is a twist because the boy accepts his nightmare instead of getting rid of it. ( )

Who among us wasn’t afraid of nightmares hiding in the closet? I certainly was, and wish I had this book when I was little. A little boy decides to confront his nightmare when it emerges from the closet; he waits for it with a toy gun. He frightens the nightmare, who begins to cry, and then the little boy has to comfort the nightmare. He tucks him in bed with him and they go to sleep.

Illustrations by Mercer Mayer are adorable, and make the nightmare into a believably scary thing at first, but then just a cute cuddly monster who is very much like the boy, needing reassurance.

The wonderful message is that everything is not always what it seems, and sometimes what or who we are scared of might be just as scared of us. When the unknown becomes known, our whole idea of the world can change. ( )