Hello, friends! Today’s review is the charming and fun Monster Needs A Costume, written by Paul Czajak and illustrated by Wendy Grieb, a Halloween-themed tale from the delightful Monster & Me series.

Halloween is almost here, so Monster – with the help of his young human friend – must find the perfect costume! But what does he want to be? A fireman? A pear? No, Monster decides that he will be a cowboy! He and his human get everything they need for the costume, making it just perfect – that is, until Monster see his first ballet, and decides that he simply must be a ballerina for Halloween instead! And once that costume is finished and Monster has perfected his pirouettes… he decides he’s too tired to be a ballerina, and wants to be a ninja instead! Will Monster be able to pick a Halloween costume before the big day?

This one was a lot of fun, and had a lot of little details that I absolutely adored. First of all, the story was perfect: not only will little readers laugh at the changeable Monster’s costuming dilemma (and the adorably fitting resolution), any parent who has suffered the woes of getting a costume too early, only to have their own little Monster decide that they want to be something completely different the week of Halloween, will get a kick out of this one as well. I also loved the detail of having one of Monster’s costumes be gender non-traditional; it was nice to see that the nearly-eight-foot Monster was as perfectly comfortable and happy wearing a pink tutu as he was a cowboy outfit. The illustrations were fantastic, and bring the characters to life with great energy and humor. The length is great, and JJ and I both really enjoyed it! A wonderful bit of Halloween fun, and it’s Baby Bookworm approved!