Sunday family photo

Top: Monkey, the elder statesman of the group

Middle (from left): Orange, Nebula and Venus

Bottom: Big Boi

Nebula is the daughter of Orange and Big Boi.

Venus is the son and/or grandson of Big Boi, by the best of my reckoning. His mother is Cirque and his grandmother is Mamacita. He lives inside with two of his siblings now. And another sibling, Drac, makes occasional appearances outside. 

I just realized Mamacita has never been pictured on the blog. She's doing great outside, as she approaches her third birthday. 

Scholastic classic: "How to Care for Your Monster"

• Title: How to Care for Your Monster 
• Author and illustrator: Norman Bridwell (1928-2014). Bridwell was previously featured in a 2019 post about The Witch Next Door.
• Publisher: Scholastic Book Services (TX 1688)
• Year: First published in 1970. This is the seventh printing from October 1973.
• Pages: 64
• Format: Paperback. Perfect bound, but with a pair of staples near the spine, to boost durability.
• Dedication: "To Eddie Stalling" ... There's a neat story behind this dedication. In the 2000 reference book 100 Most Popular Picture Book Authors and Illustrators, Sharron L. McElmeel writes: "One of Bridwell's most faithful fans was a second­ grade boy, Eddie Stalling, who wrote to Bridwell several times each year. By the time the boy was a fifth grader, he wrote Bridwell and asked him to write a book 'for fifth graders.' Bridwell responded by writing How to Care for Your Monster (Scholastic, 1970), which he dedicated to Stalling, and Monster Holidays (Scholastic, 1974). Stalling grew up and became a forest ranger in Alaska."
• First sentences: If you are lucky enough to live in a town that has a monster store, getting a monster should be easy. Just show Dad the ad and ask him for some money.
• Last sentences: There, that's all you need to know about monsters. Now go out and catch one. Don't be the last in your neighborhood to have a monster.
• Random excerpt from the middle #1: You might also try looking through the museum's trash barrels. Perhaps an old, used mummy is being thrown away.
• Random excerpt from the middle #2: Never give a silver medal to a vampire. Vampires are terrified of silver for some reason. Toss a vampire an old dime sometime and see what happens. [The illustration for this is pictured below.]
• Random excerpt from the middle #3: Werewolves are always thinking of their stomachs. Give them a prize they can eat. Give them the judge. 
• Rating on Goodreads: 4.46 stars (out of 5)
• Goodreads review excerpt: In 2017, Jeffrey Anderson wrote: "Second grade and I'm blessed to have the Scholastic Book Services and their catalogs. I chose this one and for years it sat in the bottom shelf of my nightstand. ... I cherished this book on that long ago autumn day when it arrived in my classroom, and today I cherished it again. This is a cool book. Snag a copy if you can."
• Rating on Amazon: 4.6 stars (out of 5)
• Amazon review excerpt #1: In 2014, Obi Wan wrote: "This was one of my favorite books as a kid. I got a copy in a school used book fair when I was about 8 years old. It was torn up and tattered, and I loved every minute of it! I had forgotten it for 25 years until it just recently popped into my head for some reason. So I found it again and sure enough it really holds up as a good kid's book. ... There are no hidden messages or redeeming social issues discussed. There is nothing to be learned from this book. It's just pure fun!"
• Amazon review excerpt #2: In 2010, Robert Marsh wrote: "One of my all-time favorite books from childhood. Got it through the Scholastic Book Club and read it over and over until the binding snapped. Taped up the spine then read it some more."
• Amazon review excerpt #3: In 2000, Rocky Morrow wrote: "Consider it a primer to the 'Goosebumps' series: introducing pre-schoolers to the Monsters which informed our pop-culture during the 20th Century. ... This would be a great book for a child who has a fear of the 'boogieman' in the closet, in that it treats the subject of Monsters with EMPOWERMENT: it lets the child know they CAN tame that Werewolf or Dracula."
• Blog excerpt: There's a wonderful essay on the Frankensteinia blog from 2008 in which Geof Smith writes: "Though it mentions castles, labs, pyramids, and swamps, the pages are populated with smiling suburban kids wearing turtlenecks and Chuck Taylors and playing with their big monster buddies in TV rooms, backyards, and basements. It was the perfect synthesis of lore and reality for a six-year-old mind, and it charged my imagination. ... It’s funny and slightly comforting to see the image of the Frankenstein monster cowering under the basement stairs. It tells children that they can master their fear, but it’s also true to the hulking man-child nature of the character; it hints at the pathos that makes the monster so timeless and especially appealing to children."
• Other blog links: This popular book has also been featured on The Haunted Closet and marklewisdraws.com, among many other places on the internet.