Monsters Eat Whiny Children

Monsters Eat Whiny Children by Bruce Eric Kaplan
Illustrated by Bruce Eric Kaplan
2010

     "Once there were two perfectly delightful children who were going through a TERRIBLE phase, which is to say they whined ALL day and night."  All parents out there know exactly what Kaplan is talking about in his opening lines to Monsters Eat Whiny Children.  That horrible, painful stage, when kids just whine and whine...and we find ourselves repeating "Use your regular voice!" over and over.  Kaplan gives us a great book to try to help kids get over that stage immediately.
     In Monsters Eat Whiny Children, the kid's father tells them that monsters eat whiny children.  They don't believe him until one day a monster comes and steals them away,  What follows is a series of hilarious situations where monsters argue over the best way to eat the children.  The kids find a way to get away and never whine again...we hope.  Kaplan's illustrations are cartoon like -in fact he draws cartoons for the New Yorker -and his sense of humor is dark (he wrote for Seinfeld and Six Feet Under).  I wouldn't read it to kids under 4, unless their whining is really driving you crazy...but any older? Fair game.