Now I don’t know about anyone else, but this book scared me when I was a little kid. Then the other night, I had an experience so full of de’ja vu that I got a head-spin.
Adam whips this out, from a dark hiding spot in the bookshelf. I don’t even know how we happened to aquire this book. It’s like filter lint and texta-pen lids; universal to all. He begins to read it to Keira (who in her defense, was rather tired). When the time in the story came when Grover is trying to tie the pages together Keira says in a choked voice, “Stop it daddy.”
Daddy, who was short on the uptake, thought she was talking about something else and kept going. Keira then ran and hid in the corner of the room, beginning to cry.
“What?” he said.
“It’s scaring her,” I said, and so, even with promises that “It’s a HAPPY monster at the end of the book” Keira would have none of it and our little story-time was over.
Does this book have the same power over your kids? Or used to over you? I wonder how it stays in print!
7:32 am
Aw, I loved this book. Hayden doesn’t have the attention span to sit through it yet, though he did find it at a bookstore a couple months back.
Sorry it scared Keira!
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7:46 am
Certain things can scare children, despite it not appearing to.
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8:46 am
I have nothing but happy memories of that book. It’s very difficult to be scared of Grover. Especially when we find out he is the one at the end we’ve been waiting to meet (I hope everyone who reads this blog has already read the book and I haven’t spoiled the ending!) :-S
Poor Keira.
10:18 am
I found this book exciting. It was suspenseful and no matter how many times I read it – even as an adult to my kids/friends etc, I would get caught up in the excitement of it.
Funny how different kids react to different fears.
It has a great moral that story I reckon – I want her to get past the fear to the excitement. Must be that monster word!
11:50 am
I loved this book as a child. Annie (4yo) loves it also.
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12:01 pm
I LOVED that book!!!! I think I was a bit older when we got it though as it was given to my brother who is 4 years younger than me. I do think you need to be old enough to understand the humour in it. Maybe she needs to read the last page first?
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1:22 pm
ROFL! This book actually rings a bell – I must have read it it when I was little. I didn’t run away and hide when I saw it so I assume I wasn’t scared of it, but still. Grover IS rather creepy.
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2:17 pm
Hmmmm. I’ll have to see if that scares my kids…
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2:38 pm
I remember that book, it was scary, if I remember. It got better the more it was read though because I knew the ending.
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2:50 pm
As I comment above we love that but what I forgot to say was that Annie is terrified of the Cookie Monster. There was an almost 12 month period where we couldn’t watch Sesame St or read anything related to the Cookie Monster without dealing with nightmares for days after.
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2:55 pm
Marita- cookie monster? Yep, I can see that. I should do a “what Ses. St character scared you the most?” poll by the sounds.
Tiffany – i think its only you and me so far this scared! oh, and K
3:06 pm
All my kids loved this book. But our strategy was to give away the ending at the beginning. “Grover thinks there is a different monster but Grover is really the only monster that is there. And Grover is such a nice monster isn’t he….” You get the picture.
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3:08 pm
I remember quite liking this book when I was little. It wasn’t my favourite book, but I didn’t mind it. I have memories of it in lying under my bed dog-earred and torn up. I had a flash back to childhood when I saw it in the store a year or so ago, so I bought it for my daughter, but she doesn’t care for it much. She doesn’t seem scared, but rather indifferent.
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8:12 pm
I still have my copy of this book 30 or so years on and yep it scared the living daylights out of me when I was little.
Once I knew the ending was OK then I was OK but it took a while to let Mum read it until the end to find out.
I haven’t tried it out on my 3 year old but I reckon I might wait a while longer.
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8:30 pm
I loved this book as a child. My kids have my copy and all loved it!
And my Snugglepot and Cuddlepie and Spike Milligan ‘The Bald Twit Lion’.
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9:06 pm
I loved, loved, loved this book! I can’t recall how old I was when I first read it though. Caspar however is just 15 months and my childhood copy is one of his favourite books. He loves turning the pages when I say “Don’t turn the page”. (A harbinger of things to come?) And he loves Grover’s pink nose.
Perhaps he’s too young to be scared of monsters?
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10:20 pm
Sorry to hear that your little one was scared by the book.
I LOVED that book as a child! And my babes enjoy it too
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12:13 am
I am sorry K was scared. I read this last night to my twins – who only want to shred the books anyway – I think it’s hysterical and funny .Of course by the time they are old enough to be scared I will had read it over enough times.
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1:04 am
I was 9 when this book was published, which explains why I missed it. It’s weird the things that scare my kids. Books don’t generally – yet. But Mary Margaret has William all worked up over this imaginary dinosaur that comes to the house on a daily basis and chases them.
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2:18 pm
No joke, when I saw the pic before I read your post, I thought,
‘Shit! Theres that stupid book. I DIDNT LIKE IT when I was younger.’
You know why? Because it scared me. I thought it was the way the story was told, and grover just scared me in general. I was laso scared of elmo and still am.
8:24 am
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12:35 pm
Oh my GOD. I had this book when I was a little kid. The first time I heard it I hid and I cried, and it was terrifying. Plus, Grover is not an very happy looking monster in this book. I searched for this title on a whim on google and found this blog and I cannot believe it had the same effect on others. I love this book.