The Wanting Monster

This fable from an Australian duo starts slow, as the Wanting Monster, portrayed with a furry white body and a long tail, works hard to raise trouble. The story’s screws tighten as the monster whines and moans into the ear of napping Mr. Banks, its words visualized as a winding stream of smoke. Instantly, Mr. Banks wants “something else, something more,” and he diverts the village’s stream to make himself a pool, creating envy among his neighbors, who build pools of their own and dry up the stream. Folk art–like forms and stripped-down landscapes distinguish painterly spreads by Read, making her U.S. debut, while dark backdrops contribute a note of ominousness. Little by little, the endless wanting breathed into the villagers results in overuse of the resources they need and take delight in—the water, the flowers, even the stars in the sky. Only the village’s youngest child, Billie Ray, knows what the monster really needs. Murray (Marsh & Me) draws a straight line between individual greed and environmental disaster in this book about feeding deep desires. Human characters are portrayed with a variety of skin tones. Ages 6–9. (Feb.)