Doug Cenko, author of Little Monster Trucks Go!, returns with another bright and boisterous picture book with "Monster" in its title and an exclamation point at its end. This time around, what's monstrous and exclamation-worthy is a community's lack of gratitude for a good citizen who happens to resemble a jumbo-size periwinkle cotton ball with limbs.
Monster Merv likes to spend his time sitting around and noshing on trees. To the villagers, this sloth is an outrage. Upon overhearing their complaints ("Why won't that monster leave?"; "Somebody needs to do something about that monster"), Merv finally gets up, determined to "find SOMEBODY who could do something about that monster." (Readers will notice what eludes the villagers, who cheer Merv's departure: while sitting on his duff, he was actually plugging a dam with his body, preventing the recently flooded village from being deluged again.) Merv's search for someone to help solve the village's "monster" problem may not initially bear fruit, but when he returns to the re-flooded land, he finds his place, in more ways than one.
Cenko's source material, "The Little Dutch Boy," may be a classic, but everything about Somebody Needs to Do Something About That Monster! feels contemporary. The digital art is executed in amusement park colors, and the cast includes unicorns who love "sparkly things" and a trio of witches with a fan club. The story is a plea to take the time to value life's little pleasures and to appreciate helpers of all kinds. --Nell Beram, freelance writer and YA author