Last week I was lucky to be given a copy of one of my favorite Golden Books, The Monster at the End of This Book: Starring Lovable, Furry Old Grover, by Katie and Rowan.
As a child I loved watching Sesame Street, my favorite character was always Grover, and especially his alter ego, Super Grover! The cute little blue monster is excitable, caring and compulsive, perhaps bordering on neurotic (as an adult I can see why I relate to him so well).
Author Jon Stone cleverly makes Grover speak directly to the reader of this little book, capturing the curiosity, suspense and humor of waiting and wanting to see what actually is at the end of the book. Stone was Sesame Street’s first head writer, as well as one of the show’s primary directors and producers for over 24 years.
First published by Golden Books in 1971, The Monster at the End of this Book is illustrated perfectly by Mike Smollin who translates Grover seamlessly into print. His illustrations are simple and distinctly 70s which still makes this book so adorably cool.
This book is a lot of fun to read aloud and perfect for toddlers. As I write this Ned’s dad has just read him the book causing much hilarity, now Ned is reading(!?) the book to himself and trying to emulate the way dad read it with squeals in all the right places.
Grover speaks out of the book to his audience, so they can become involved, each page turned by the reader brings them and Grover closer to the looming Monster at the end.
‘Shhh. Listen, I have an idea. If you do not turn any pages, we will never get to the end of this book. And that is good, because there is a Monster at the end of this book. So please do not turn the page’
There is no real fear in this book of actually finding a Monster. Spoiler Alert – the Monster is actually Grover! The book is more about humor and giving reassurance that the feeling of being a little scared is normal and that mostly what you were afraid of in the first place doesn’t actually eventuate.
It is currently season 37 of Sesame Street and Grover now has a new role as ‘Global Grover’ who introduces children to the world around them, and teaches them to be sensitive and respectful of our differences. The Sesame Workshop website is an amazing resource about everything to do with what, I think, is one of the most important television productions ever made for children.
Reviewed by Carmel Bird in The Age this weekend was a fascinating book called Golden Legacy by Leonard S. Marcus. The book chronicles the publishing phenomenon of Golden Books from the first release in 1942, detailing their criticism and praise as well as including wonderful archival photographs and original artwork. The New York Times review is here, there is also a great review here and the book can be found on Amazon. The customer reviews on Amazon show overwhelmingly just how much people love the Golden series of books.
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