A World Full of Monsters

Narrated by a young boy, this story treats monsters matter of factly. Long before electric light bulbs and cars were invented, there were monstersmonster children and monster adults. Citified or countrified, monsters existed in every profession (police and mayors), monsters doing every type of chore, and monsters playing every kind of sport (yes, even bowling). Men, women and children when passing a monster merely said, ""Hi.'' Now, in modern times, the narrator describes bumps and squeaks in the night and knows the noises are just the monsters stopping in to say hello. Brown's pictures of the coexistence of people and monsters in the ``olden days'' are, like the text, suitably droll. This reassuring idea turns monsters into friendly fellow beings. (4-8)