clever story; great rhyme - spots visited are recognizable, and shown on a map at surprise ending ( )

Monsterly fun meets the USA in a silly, rhyming adventure, perfect for traveling in an unexpected way.

It's time to go on a vacation, and these monsters can't wait. They start in California and stop at thirteen more, well-known tourist attractions and cities as they make their way across the USA. Each stop is short but enough to give a quick impression...and a bit of silliness...before the monsters move on.

The idea of monsters hitting some favorite vacation spots in the US already had me looking forward to this read. And these monsters a quite the treat. Packed with imagination, each one is illustrated with a touch of fantasy, quirkiness and dash of humorous fun. It's fun to see their reactions as well as their antics as they visit well-known spots.

A four-line rhyme introduces and highlights a main aspect of each of the places the monsters visit. These are worded just right for the intended age group. The name of the state is placed in the corner of the page...unfortunately, the depicted place is sometimes a bit more difficult to figure out, but usually, the name can be found somewhere in the illustration. The places are drawn in a way, young listeners can recognize and get a general idea of the real appearance. At the very end, there is a map to help trace the journey

The monster antics are the real treat in this book, and it's this aspect which will have young listeners coming back again and again. As to the travel information, there is a nice variety of types of locations and activities. These do give a lovely and very general impression of the visited sites. It would have been nice to have a tiny bit more information on some, since I'm not sure young readers will easily identify many of these or necessarily known anything about them. But it is a lovely introduction. The monsters make this read worth grabbing up.

I received an ARC and enjoyed the adventure quite a bit. ( )