The Terrible Monster, Leonardo

I bought this book because my grandson had an infatuation with monsters for awhile. We both enjoy the story and the artwork. He's moved on from monsters now, but we still enjoy reading this book. Not terribly long, so good for a bedtime book.

Leonardo is a terrible monster that is no good for scaring people. He doesn't have extra teeth, he isn't very big, and he isn't very weird looking. He wants nothing more than to scare the tuna salad out of someone though, so he does some research and finds a boy he thinks is the ultimate scaredy-cat.

This is a great story with an even better message. It's often better to help people than to hurt them. Leonardo learns that scaring people isn't all it's cracked up to be. It's better to be a friend.

Mo Willems always creates such amazing picture books. My toddler really enjoyed this story, the drawings, and the big feelings that both Leonardo and the little boy, Sam, had.

Leonardo is an absolute failure as a monster. He decides that he must find the most scaredy-cat kid in the world to prove he can scare the tuna salad out of someone. But Leonardo's encounter with Sam does not go as expected.

Awww, poor Leonardo. Poor Sam. But I'm glad they both find a good friend. The phrases Willems came up with made me chuckle. Now I want a story about Hector.

This is a wonderful book that is really different from all of our other books.

It is a tall book, but on many of the pages, the illustrations and words take up a very small portion of the pages, giving it a unique and edgy feel and making the larger illustrations he uses effective because of their size as much as because of their art.

The colors he uses are cool colors - not bright and vibrant ones, and this is also unique for a children's book.

There is really only about a sentence on each page, but the writing is so funny and clever that it is an effective read for my one year old son, but it is also an effective read for my six year old niece.

The story is about kindness and friendliness.

Basically, text and illustration are both wonderful but simple, and they work together so well to make this a simple yet poignant book.

Also, I think I like it even more than my kids do. :-)

Leonardo the monster seems incapable of scaring anyone. So he does his research and looks for the easiest person to scare. But when he tries to scare the boy, he instead makes him cry. The poor boy was having a very bad day. Leonardo decides to become his friend instead.
Overall, this story and illustrations are cute. The coloring and style of the illustrations reminds me of something from the 1960s so it is a little bit different. There are several humorous points to the story which makes it more fun.
Would I recommend this book? YES simple and fun book for any age

Leonardo is an absolute failure as a monster. He decides that he must find the most scaredy-cat kid in the world to prove he can scare the tuna salad out of someone. But Leonardo's encounter with Sam does not go as expected.

Awww, poor Leonardo. Poor Sam. But I'm glad they both find a good friend. The phrases Willems came up with made me chuckle. Now I want a story about Hector.

This is a wonderful book that is really different from all of our other books.

It is a tall book, but on many of the pages, the illustrations and words take up a very small portion of the pages, giving it a unique and edgy feel and making the larger illustrations he uses effective because of their size as much as because of their art.

The colors he uses are cool colors - not bright and vibrant ones, and this is also unique for a children's book.

There is really only about a sentence on each page, but the writing is so funny and clever that it is an effective read for my one year old son, but it is also an effective read for my six year old niece.

The story is about kindness and friendliness.

Basically, text and illustration are both wonderful but simple, and they work together so well to make this a simple yet poignant book.

Also, I think I like it even more than my kids do. :-)

Leonardo the monster seems incapable of scaring anyone. So he does his research and looks for the easiest person to scare. But when he tries to scare the boy, he instead makes him cry. The poor boy was having a very bad day. Leonardo decides to become his friend instead.
Overall, this story and illustrations are cute. The coloring and style of the illustrations reminds me of something from the 1960s so it is a little bit different. There are several humorous points to the story which makes it more fun.
Would I recommend this book? YES simple and fun book for any age

This is a wonderful book for preschoolers and young children having problems socializing. It allows them to have one view point of how they think they should act and have the power to change to make more friends. Often so many children are labeled by adults as bad children when they have chaos and are suffering through today's rough times such as divorce, separation, trauma, etc. This allows the child to see that even if you are told and think you are supposed to be one way, you can actually chose to change your behavior and make friends. I work with young children and see more boys having problems relating to their peers at 4 and 5. This book allows them to see that there is hope and that change is within themselves. Highly recommend.

Another reviewer said she loved the line that Leonardo made a "very big decision." I love that line, too, as well as the entire list of reasons Sam spews regarding why he's crying. One of them is that he "slipped in the bathtub while trying to wash out the bird poo that his brother's cockatoo pooped on his head." I'd cry too!!!

I read this book and put myself in the shoes of my [...] (who loves it, and has memorized and recites the list of reasons why Sam is crying!!!), and between the words and the pictures, it is a stimulating and lovely book. For instance, when Leonardo makes his "very big decision", the picture of Leo is enormous!

This is an incredible book. Thank you, Mo!!!

This has two themes which young children cotton to: being afraid and making friends. Leonardo the Monster isn't scary like other monsters which are pictured. He does his research to find who might be the most afraid of him. When he tries to scare the little boy, it doesn't go quite the way Leonardo planned. It's even better. Leonardo may learn that making friends is more fun than making someone afraid.

Few authors have the panache shown by Mo Willems in his introduction written on the book cover:

"YOUR PAL MO WILLEMS PRESENTS"

followed by the book title, but Mr. Willems has a well-placed confidence in his rapport with kids. Willems somehow grasps the soul of a toddler, and his writing and pictures appeal to this age group at a very deep level. His writing and pictures are so tuned in that he seems like a real friend; a friendly, somewhat goofy friend that you want to keep.

Here he gets to an issue close to any youngster's heart--Monsters! KIds are afraid of the monster outside and (on another level) inside, and they frequent their nightmares and fantasy play. The always creative WIllems takes this fact and turns it inside out: What if there were a monster who was bad at what he did, who couldn't scare even the most timid "scaredy-cat?" Here, that cat is a "poor, unsuspecting" boy named Sam, shown in the lower lefthand corner of an otherwise blank 2-page spread). After woefully comparing himself to more scary monsters (which gives Willems a chance to draw a few), Leonardo vows to scare the "tuna salad" out of him. (This phrase is a surefire laugh magnet.) Leonardo succeeds in making Sam cry ("I did it! I've finally scared the tuna salad out of someone!"), but Sam makes other excuses for his tears in two-pages of crowded (and slightly difficult to read because of Willems' low contrast colors) testimony, including references to a stolen action figure, a stubbed toe, and a pooping cockatoo. Sam's list of bad times draws Leonardo's sympathy, and he decides that "instead of being a terrible monster, he would become a wonderful friend"--although he reserves the right to playfully scare Sam once in a while.

In his famous "Pigeon" series, Willems uses a minimalist illustration style that plays casual and easy. Here, he apes the "monster" designs of Maurice Sendak ("Where the WIld Things Are") either as homage or because he couldn't do better. I'll call it a tribute, because Willems also draws a monster that looks like it came out of "Yellow Submarine." He's also a master at typeface, putting catch phrases that require emphasis
(like "tuna salad") in contrasting font colors. In a side joke that adults will appreciate as much as kids, Willems draws "Tony," the monster with "1,642 teeth" and then asterisks it: "*NOTE: NOT ALL TEETH SHOWN." The humor is about as sophisticated as it gets with toddlers (one step up might be the great "Mr. Lunch" series). This is a surprisingly effective and touching story.

Pick up a hardcover copy of "Leonardo the Terrible Monster" and take a gander at the bookflap. Scan your eyes downwards and take special note of the suggested reading level. This, I must say, is a bit of calculated picture book brilliance. It reads, "For audiences as young as 3 and as old as 36". Now I once experienced the supreme pleasure of sitting amongst several hundred librarians and teachers in the New York City Arts and Humanities Library to see Mr. Mo Willems speak. My friends, you have not lived until you see a hundred or so middle-aged female librarians swooning over Mr. Willems' dapper good looks, his off-the-cuff remarks, and his instant rapport with any crowd. He is also, as far as I can determine, probably 36 and herein lies the beauty of the little note on the bookflap. Any yahoo could write that awful and almost obligatory statement that proclaims, "For kids between 3 and 103!!!", with a sickeningly saccharine smile. This book, on the other hand, makes the cut-off 36 and from there on in "Leonardo" proves to be a consistently surprising and sublime little tale.

Meet Leonardo. Leonardo has a problem. As any child familiar with the concept of monsters knows (or who has seen "Monsters, Inc", anyway) the job of that particular creature is to be scary. In this respect, Leonardo fails miserably. He just ain't a fright. When he attempts to do so he earns patronizing looks of the awww-isn't-the-little-fella-cute variety. Other monsters either look or act in a disturbing manner. Not our Leo. Fully aware that he needs a plan of some sort, Leonardo decides to locate, "the most scaredy-cat kid in the whole world" and frighten the bejeezus out of 'em. Sam is that kid. When Leonardo attempts to scare Sam it seems at first as if it has worked. Sam is, after all, in tears. The kid, however, claims that Leonardo's sorry excuse for a scare was not the source of his tears and then proceeds to outline exactly how horrible a day he's had and why he's been on the brink of tears ever since. Leonardo is moved by the little boy's story and resolves there and then to become Sam's friend. For a moment it looks as if the two little guys walking off holding hands will be the last picture in the book, but this is a Willems title after all. Though they're definitely buds now, the book admits, "that didn't mean that he [Leonardo] couldn't try to scare his friend every now and then". The real ending of the book? Sam joyfully running after Leonardo after the monster really has scared him a little. Happy ending for all.

So let's take a look at this book. Prior to "Leonardo", Willems was a fan of the square and the long horizontal shaped picture books. There are lots of theories out there that talk about how the shape of a children's title determines the kind of story it is. By and large, books (like "Leonardo") that are long and vertical tend to be far more interesting artistically than their square or horizontal brothers. Certainly this is Willems' most beautiful book to date. The cover looks like an old-timey wanted poster, or perhaps playbill for some penny-dreadful theatrical production. Inside, Mr. Willems make great use of space. The font is beautiful and ornate up until Sam's two-page explanation about how much his life sucks. At that point it becomes blocky and bold. Figures sometimes fill entire pages and sometimes, as when Leonardo is shocked or miserable, they take up just a tiny bit of room. It's clear that there is a very careful calculation behind each picture that determines where a figure is, how much space he or she takes up, and where the words on that page should go. Though I have great respect for "Knuffle Bunny", love the "Pigeon" and am appreciative of his instructional books like "Time To Pee" and "Time to Say Please", this is Mo's best artistic work to date. The title is just as much about what Willems doesn't illustrate as it is what he does illustrate. It makes for a gorgeous read.

Mr. Willems once worked for "Sesame Street", so I found his return to the monsters-are-scary concept especially amusing. He knows his child audience and knows it quite well. In a picture that features a monster that is far scarier than Leonardo, we meet Tony who is said to have 1,642 teeth. An note attached to the bottom of the page, however, reads, "Note: Not all teeth shown". Why put that on the page? Because Mr. Willems knows perfectly well that if you draw a monster and claim that he has 1,642 teeth, your child readers will all count those teeth and cry bloody murder that there are only 148 in the picture.

Now I need your help. Remember when I said that I saw Mr. Willems speak in NYC? Well at that time he mentioned his best beloved and universally applauded (not to say Caldecott Honored) book, "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" and its subsequent spin-offs. In the course of the discussion, Mr. Willems confided that the pigeon now appears in all his books, regardless as to whether or not that book is about him. In "Knuffle Bunny" it appears on someone's shirt. And supposedly it can be located in "Leonardo, the Terrible Monster". Now I have scanned this book from tip to toe. I've inspected each and every page with a fine tooth comb. I've meticulously culled every last stroke of the pen in an effort to find the deceptively simple fowl and I cannot for the life of me locate him anywhere. If you do happen to find the pigeon I want you to write a review of this book on the store and tell the whole wide world where to find it. Honestly, it's killing me not to know. Otherwise, there is nothing is this book that is objectionable in the least. It's lovely to view, has thick pages that will stand up to a lot of wear and tear, contains a story that is hard to resist, employs a great color scheme and font, and is just an all around joy. A monster must-have.

What a surprise. The terrible monster turns out to be TERRIBLE at being a monster (typical Mo humour)! And this monster couldn't scare anyone!

He didn't have 1,642 teeth like Tony. He wasn't big like Eleanor. And he wasn't just plain wierd like Hector.

What's a poor creature to do? Simple. Find a scaredy-cat kid - and scare the tuna salad out of him! (Mo's words, not mine.)

So there he is: moony, sourfaced, unsuspecting Sam. Is Sam the perfect candidate? Leonardo is about to find out and the ending is a darling dénouement to a monstrous dilemma.

Is there doubt that Mo's personality shines again? Not for me! Sam the unsuspecting kid is a great illustration. And Leonardo's facial expressions are spot on.

Playful and gentle and nicely paced, this is a cute, neat book!

My name is Monica Iravedra and I am 7 years old.

My English teacher read this book to us in class and I thought it was the greatest and funny.

My favorite part was when Leonardo made his first friend.

I recommend this book for all kids.

I also like this book by Mo Willems: Edwina The Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct.

I hope you like it too.

Poor Leonardo is the worst monster the monster community has ever seen. He is unable to complete his monster tasks. He tries harder and harder to be the monster he should be but nothing works out for him. Good thing because he has another profession he must take on....the wonderful friend profession.

"Leonardo, the Terrible Monster" is a book that is perfect to engage in while talking to students about friendships and being courteous to those around them. This book, in size, is huge. The pages have a lot of space on them showing the true appearance of Leonardo, as a small monster. The language used in this book is language that a lot of children use. The class could pick out the words that are common to what they say. Also, the kids could all draw and name their own monster that could be put in the book. The students could brainstorm reasons of why Leonardo is such a terrible monster before the book is read. Then we could see if the class hypotheses were correct. For kids to work on their writing skills, they could name the little boy that Leonardo becomes friends with and write their own story about him. They could also write the sequel to this book, telling about Leonardo's life after he decides to be a "wonderful friend" since he is a horrendously bad monster. Another activity to do with this book is to ask kids about the things that go on in the book. The students could talk about the problem (Leonardo being a terrible monster) and the solution to that (changing his profession to being a full-time friend).

This is one of my favorite children's books. I really like it because the pages are really big and Mo Willems uses the big pages to go along with the illustrations. You can really sense the size of the characters in the book by the enormous space that is on every page. "The story is told predominantly through the illustrations." (Temple et al., 2006) When reading the title of this book, before I read the book itself, I thought the book was about a monster, Leonardo that was terrible, meaning mean. I was definitely incorrect. Leonardo is really a bad monster, bless his heart! He is so cute though. I love him and I love the little boy that he befriends at the end. I also love the dedication in this book. Most all of Mo Willems's books are dedicated to Trixie, his daughter. The dedication in this book is so adorable. It states: FOR THE TRIXTER, MY OWN LITTLE MONSTER. That is so awesome.

Leonardo was a terrible monster. He decided after upsetting a child that he would become a nice monster. I feel like it teaches children to be compassionate, which is a great trait to have. The art made my child laugh, especially hte part with the 1400 teeth. Great book Mo! I'll be finding more of your works for my daughter. Thanks!

Leonardo the Terrible Monster is another wonderful book by Mo Willems. I purhcased this book to help my two year old daughter conquer her fear of Monsters. I recognized the author's name and trusted she would appreciate this book as much as she had the others by Willems, and she did. The book is large, but most of the pages are blank with muted tones of grays and blues. The color pallet creates a calm feeling which is nice considering the subject matter. The illustrations are adorably detailed and offer many opportunities for exploration and interaction between the audience and the characters. The book tells the story of Leonardo, a monster who is terrible at being a monster. All he wants to do is be horrifically terrifiying, but instead he discovers his ability to be a wonderful friend. My daughter loves this book, and without ever directly discussing it, she is no longer afraid of monsters, instead, she believes monsters are our friends. Parents can use this book to help their toddlers overcome the negative connotation of the word "monster" by putting a face, adorable Leondardo, to the word.

I'm visiting my grandchildren, Louis (5) and Katherine (2). I brought Leonardo along as a gift. In the three days since I arrived, we've read it at least 10 times. We love Leonardo, we love Sam, and we love this book!

We have this book checked out from the library and the kids LOVE it! They are 5 and almsot 2 and ask for it every night or whenever they see it. The two year old calls it "the boo book." I have fun reading it too. It looks like we need a copy for home.

Your and your children will be so happy the bought this book.
Mo did it again....another great book We love all the books Mo writes .
You should also read Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and all the other pigeon books by Mo. He is very talented.

Very cute book!! I love the fact that Leonardo is terrible monster, not because he is super horrific, but because he can't scare anyone. Then he decides to be a good friend.

One of my daughter's favorite books!

This book reminded me of Casper the Friendly Ghost and Harold and the Purple Crayon, but not in a good way.

Unfortunately it lacked the sweetness that both those stories possessed. First of all the colors in "Leonardo the Terrible Monster" are drab and a bit depressing. The simplicity and limited color scheme worked for Harold and the Purple Crayon because the Crayon and Harold's drawings with it were the point of the book. In "Leonardo the Terrible Monster" that same simplicity detracted from the book and the story was not able to redeem it.

The story focused on a monster whose goal was to be scary, this in it's self is not bad, Leonardo could have been shown the error of his ways, learned about healthy guilt over something he did to hurt some one. He could have been like Casper, who never wanted to scare anyone in the first place, but felt it was required of him. In "Leonardo the Terrible Monster" The Leonardo decided to became a good and nice monster simply because he failed.

The message in the book could be summed up in one simple sentence. "If you fail at being mean and scary then you should be nice"

This is a wonderful book. The pictures show emotion. There is a great lesson about how it is more powerful to be a friend than it is to be mean. It is a book that parents will love to read with their children, and children will request to read again and again.