At first the child is presented with a mental image of an ordinary site, such as a person wondering why people are looking at them. But then, with a line such as "I just wink my middle eye," the reader is suddenly forced to alter their normal mental image. The result is the sudden creation of an absurdly funny image that, instead of being scary or grotesque, is humorous, funny and, most importantly, enjoyable. This anthology accomplishes its goal of entertaining children because it takes a popular subject that children are enthralled with, even if timidly, and turns it upside down. Instead of seeing monsters as scary nightmares, the reader sees monsters through a new perspective, as fumbling, klutzy and funny characters. This is similar to the approach...

Like the poems in this anthology, the monsters in Monsters, Inc. are the exact opposite of what their name implies them to be. In other words, instead of being scary and frightening, the monsters in both the book and movie are funny and thus appealing to children.
For these reasons, the children's poetry anthology entitled Monster Poems is an excellent book for children because it helps them get over their fear of monsters by making them funny. Instead of seeing monsters as scary, these poems allow the child to see them as bumbling idiots that should be laughed at.

Works Cited

Monster Poems. Daisy Wallace (ed.), Kay Chorao (ill.) Holiday House, 1990.