I LOVE THIS BOOK with an art activity of making monsters and talking about coping skills ( )

A.N. Kang, the expatriate Korean author/artist responsible for those two delightful picture-books about a fluffy kitty named Papillon, turns to the subject of self-doubt in this latest offering. Beset by the criticisms of the little monster of doubt, a young girl finds that the more she listens, the larger the monster grows. Eventually she even begins to sound like the monster herself. Then one day she decides not to listen to him any more, and good things happen...

Having enjoyed Kang's Papillon books - The Very Fluffy Kitty, Papillon and Papillon Goes to the Vet - I picked up My Big Bad Monster with a sense of anticipation, sure that, if nothing else, I would enjoy the cute artwork. What I found was a sweet, sensitively told tale about the destructive power of self-doubt, the way that insecurity can grow and become more extreme, the more it is indulged. I particularly appreciated the fact that Kang depicts how the girl's own self-doubts cause her to denigrate another, as bullying behavior is so often the product of insecurity on the bully's part. The artwork, as could be expected, was adorable - even the monster looked cute! Recommended to anyone seeking children's books addressing self-doubt and self-confidence. ( )