Leonardo the Terrible Monster

Bibliographic Data:  

 

Willems, Mo. Leonardo the Terrible Monster. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 2005.

ISBN 9780786852949

 

Plot Summary:

Leonardo is having a hard time scaring anyone. He decides to find a kid he can easily “scare the tuna salad out of”. Leonardo tries everything to scare little Sam and manages to make him cry. However, the tears weren’t because of Leonardo, but due to fact that everything has gone wrong with Sam’s day. After Leonardo hears this, he decides he will no longer be a monster, but a good friend.

Critical Analysis:

This amusing picture book is simplistic in its design and engages the reader through unique storytelling techniques. The reader is lead through a series of reasons why Leonardo is such terrible monster. Each page averages only 5-6 words (with the exception of Sam’s emotional explanation for his tears) and gives the reader opportunity to focus on each character’s features. Plenty of blank space is provided with bold, visual text.  

Large font, open space and clean lines allow the reader to focus more on the words and not be overwhelmed by any over-the-top details. The colors throughout are muted pastels. Leonardo’s expressions and activities are made evident through simplistic illustrations consisting of neat lines and uncomplicated shapes. The illustrations take up very little of each page and in most cases the text takes up more. With the majority of the page designs being so modest where illustration is concerned, those pages that do contain larger images, like the two page close up of Leonardo or the illustrations of Leonardo’s monster friends for example, seem to have a much more dramatic effect.

Awards:

Book Sense Book of the Year Award, 2006
Charlotte Zolotow Award, 2006

 

Review Excerpt(s):

Starred review in School Library Journal:
 “Will have grown-ups chuckling, too. A surefire hit.”

Booklist review, July 2005:
" A winner for story hours, with plenty of discussion possibilities."

 

Kirkus review, July 2005:

“With a palette straight from the endpapers of Where the Wild Things Are… Willems crafts a sweetly original morality play about a very unscary monster.”

 

Connections:

* Students can create their own monsters to “scare the tuna salad” out of their classmates. Gather paper bags, glue, construction paper, google-y eyes, etc. Here is a great blog with instructions – No Time for Flash Cards

* Discuss the illustrations in the book with students. Which one was their favorite? Did they like that there was more space than pictures? Compare some other books by Mo Willems. How are the illustrations similar? Different?

*Some other works by Mo Willems:

 

        -Willems, Mo. Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! ISBN 9780786819881

          -Willems, Mo. Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale. ISBN 9780786818709

       -Willems, Mo. Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct. ISBN 9780786837489