Huggly Gets Dressed

ISBN 0590918192 - This series is apparently supposed to be for the 4 to 8 year old crowd, but Huggly will appeal to younger children, as well, if not more. For some of the older kids, Huggly's a nice way to deal with fears that a lot of 7 and 8 year olds don't even want to admit to having, of the monster under the bed. Huggly is a monster and lives under the bed of a people child "named" Sleepyhead. One night, Huggly sneaks out and slips quietly into the room… until he bangs his head on a dresser and causes a drawer of clothes to fall out. Suddenly curious about clothes, Huggly dresses himself and finishes just as Sleepyhead's mother comes to wake him. Huggly's got to hide before he gets caught! Huggly's hilarious, not even remotely scary, which isn't the point of the story but is a nice thing - kids who deal with their own monsters under their own beds will be happy to know that maybe their monster is equally un-scary. His attempt to figure out clothing seems perfectly reasonable, and the illustrations absolutely make the story. Reading "A bright red-and-yellow striped thing had a nice hole for his tail." isn't funny at all if you can't see that the striped thing is a shirt. Arnold's a genius and Huggly's a goofball... You should be warned, of course, that if you read this one once, you'll be required to read it over and over - it's that good. - AnnaLovesBooks