Some of My Best Friends Are Monsters

A boy, in red polka-dot pajamas or shorts and a T-shirt with stars, gives a first-person account of his unusual circle of friends. They are monsterspudgy or long-limbed, some too large for the house, some small enough for a bureau drawer, with horns or cones on their heads or with snorkles for noses. Good buddies to have around, they can both get kites into the air and untangle them from trees. Need company when the lights go out? Want someone to whisk away broccoli at dinnertime? The monsters do seem pretty handy, and the narrator's case is a convincing one. Colored-pencil drawings show a boy almost as unusual-looking as his pals. The telling is deliberately dry and the pictures deliver a pack of whimsical monsters who will find new fans among readers. Ages 4-7. (August)