''Leonardo, the Terrible Monster'' (known on the front cover as ''Your Pal Mo Willems Presents: Leonardo, the Terrible Monster'') is a

children's A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''child ...

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

written and illustrated by

Mo Willems Mo Willems (born February 11, 1968) is an American writer, animator, voice actor, and children's book author. His work includes creating the animated television series '' Sheep in the Big City'' for Cartoon Network, working on '' Sesame Stre ...

. An

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, it was released in 2005 by Hyperion Books. In 2007,

Weston Woods Weston Woods Studios (or simply Weston Woods) is an American production company that makes audio and short films based on well-known books for children. It was founded in 1953 by Morton Schindel in Weston, Connecticut, and named after the wooded a ...

adapted the book to an animated film, directed by

Pete List Pete List is an Italy-based musician and animator. Career List has done animation work for Celebrity Deathmatch and Doug. He directed the Marilyn Manson music video for "Astonishing Panorama of the Endtimes". Some of his work has focused on chi ...

Plot

Leonardo is truly a terrible monster - terrible at being a monster, that is. No matter how hard he tries, he can't seem to frighten anyone. Determined to succeed, Leonardo sets himself to training and research. Finally, he finds a nervous little boy, and scares the tuna salad out of him! But scaring people isn't quite as satisfying as he thought it would be. Leonardo realizes that he might be a terrible, awful monster-but he could be a really good friend.

Reception

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

'' called it a "sweetly original morality play about a very unscary monster", while

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

wrote " Willems's (Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! ) finale feels apt but syrupy; Leonardo's decision to be nice seems homiletic. Yet this is an appealing book, sketched in dark brown against grayish pastel backdrops, with evergreen lettering and highlighted keywords." It is listed in the 2009

literary Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays, and poems. It includes both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, ...

reference book A reference work is a document, such as a Academic publishing#Scholarly paper, paper, book or periodical literature, periodical (or their electronic publishing, electronic equivalents), to which one can refer for information. The information ...

1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up ''1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up'' is a literary reference book compiled by Julia Eccleshare, children's book editor at Britain's Guardian newspaper. It was published in 2009 by Universe/Rizzoli International. Contents ...

''.

Sequel

In 2017, the sequel, ''Sam, the Most Scaredy-Cat Kid in the Whole World'', was released.

References

American picture books 2005 children's books Children's fiction books Children's books about monsters Books by Mo Willems Hyperion Books for Children books {{child-picture-book-stub