User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
I had a very love/hate relationship with The Muppets in my early youth. I really, really liked watching "The Muppet Show" and "Sesame Street". They were two of my favorite shows, and I still hold both in high regard. However, every now and then and completely out of nowhere, a Muppet would do something that genuinely terrified me. For example, I really hated that old "Sesame" sketch when a couple of mild-mannered puppets would calmly take turns whispering words that rhymed to a gently jazzy beat, and then this orange hairy guy would barrel up to the screen, and, without regard for rhythm or personal space, bellow an unwieldy sentence containing all the words the less-horrific Muppets had so charmingly whispered earlier. That SCARED me. Badly. I was scared of beards, yelling, and any pictures or toys depicting someone or something with a gaping mouth.
Thus, I had serious issues with "Monster at the End of this Book". I was always very ill at ease with Grover, anyway. He caused terrible problems for everyone he encountered, and almost never showed remorse. Also, he couldn't seem to communicate without shouting and gesticulating wildly. I had real problems with the way he carried himself, so I knew going into the book that I probably wasn't going to like it much. What I didn't expect was to be profoundly affected, to the point of tears and sleepless nights, by a drawing of Grover, his furry mouth so wide with terror that his head resembled a blubbering halved blue grapefruit, positively out of control with horror and dread concerning the MONSTER that was about to destroy him, to destroy us all, because he'd spoken to me, personally, directly, about the effects the very book I held in my hands would have on the both of us in the immediate future.
I never appreciated or even detected the pleasingly ironic denouement of this, the most devious Little Golden Book of them all, until 4th or 5th grade, when I finally dared to finish the thing. In my preschool days, as far as I was concerned, they may as well have entitled the book "Grover Undergoes a Harrowing Mental Breakdown, and Will Implore You to Help Him Throughout (You Cannot)".
One star, one scar.
Rating: really liked it
This was one of my all-time favorite books when I was a kid. In the story, Grover begs the reader to stop turning pages because each page brings us closer to a monster at the end of the book, and Grover is afraid of monsters. He tries to nail the pages shut, he tries to tie the pages down, he even builds a brick wall. But somehow the reader always turns the page.
My mother used to read this book to me, and she was great at doing funny voices. I remember laughing so hard as she acted out Grover becoming more and more hysterical about the monster at the end of the book. (Children's Spoiler Alert: There is a monster, but he is a friendly one.)
Somewhere on a flash drive I have a video of my mom reading this story. A few years ago, I showed her the book and asked if I could record her reading it. She performed it perfectly, and it was a beautiful scene.
I have so many happy memories of my mother reading to me before bedtime. I am grateful for this book and for those memories. My sweet, brilliant mother. It is tragic that her brain has now been so damaged by cancer that she has trouble speaking and reading, but cancer can't rob me of those times.
Like Grover, I wish I could nail down some boards or build a brick wall to try and stop what is inevitable. I just hope there will be some friends there to help me through the scary parts.
November 1, 2015
Rating: really liked it
Riveting.
Gave me goose bumps.
A true page turner till the end.
Rating: really liked it
[The monster turns out to be 'lovable furry old' Grover himself (hide spoiler)]
Rating: really liked it
"I . . . am the monster"
Grover Monster
This is probably one of the most profound statements in literary history to date. Today, there are hundreds of books, films and television shows which address man's incapacity to negotiate his own darkness. In many variations of the tale, we see the darkness within projected outward, cast onto another real or imagined character. Stephen King's Secret Window, even the latest season of Dexter reacquaints us with this age-old phenomenon, but never have they explored it with the depth and finesse author Jon Stone did in the chilling The Monster at the End of this Book.
The tale begins with the seemingly lovable Grover, whose ambivalence has yet to be revealed. He fears the monster, an entity which he believes he shares no association with. His dissociation from his own darkness becomes apparent to the reader on the first page when Grover Monster ironically proclaims, "I am so scared of monsters" (Stone).
On subsequent pages, Grover's fear grows. But what does he truly fear? Does he fear the monster at the end of the book, or the fact that, upon reaching the end of the book, we will see him for who he truly is? If we align ourselves with the latter of these two possibilities, then the futility of his attempt to hinder our progress is augmented by the fact that even the casual observer can see Grover for what he truly is: a monster. On the other hand, if we believe Grover genuinely fears the monster at the end of the book, the text becomes a testament to identities which have become so fragmented that an individual interprets different facets of the self as separate individuals. The various mechanisms Grover constructs throughout the book follow in the vein of the former of these two possibilities, for it is the industrial era which catalyzed such fragmentation initially, and it is Grover's attempt to reconstruct the industrial mechanism, and his inability to adapt to the requirements of industry, which allow us to finish the text.
Over the next few pages, Grover treats the text as a serial killer might treat its victim, binding the book with rope, smothering the book with brick, and building a shack--likely in some remote location--in which he can hide the book away from the public eye. But all of his attempts to slow our progress prove only testament to his inability to adapt to the requirements of the harsh society whose growth is grounded in industry. Even the infantile readers can wretch victory from Grover's grasp simply by turning the pages. By turning the pages we leave him no choice but to identify himself with the only thing he can inherently identify himself as: the monster.
Grover's attempts to stop the reader from moving forward are reminiscent of the behaviors we all exhibit when trying to hide our darkest impulses. We try to box ourselves off from others, or "put up a wall." These very counterintuitive impulses are often what give us away. It is the hiding that reveals us.
While this text could be said to be a grim portrayal of our own fears and impulses, it ends on a positive note. Grover learns to embrace the monster within, and realizes that it is a benign force once refutation of its existence comes to an end, showing us that we all must accept the darkness within, for repression can only result in physiological complications and self-inflicted damage that far outweighs what we might perceive our inner demons to be capable of. The final message left to readers is best encapsulated by Grover's closing statement, "I told you and told you there was nothing to be afraid of." (Stone).
Rating: really liked it
‘Oh great,’ you’re thinking, ‘another witty endeavor where a Goodreader reflects back on a childhood favorite. Oh joy.'
Well, suck it up and deal.
A-hem… While rifling through the book section at my local Goodwill; I came across this little gem. Copyright 1980, Little Golden Books® edition complete with all our favorite characters outlining the back cover… The Tawny Scrawny Lion, Tootle, The Poky Little Puppy… that famous gold-foil binding (seriously, it says so… right on the back!) A little girl even signed her name!
Natalia (you just know she had one of those stage moms cramming her Airabesques down her throat before a
Nutcracker performance... you can just see it...)
Anyway… I grabbed this treasure and let out a little yip of delight. God, I LOVED this book! And what a cool edition! So, I paid my 99 cents and skittered on home to *share* with my kids. Bonding! Instant Memories! Up your a**, Norman Rockwell!
Clearly, my children have been brainwashed by sponges named Bob and Hedgehogs wearing gloves and little pokey-things. But, I didn’t give up… I found the correct remote(s), shut down all things electronic, sat them down in a semi circle at my feet---and with a relish unbeknownst to even myself--- read them this mutha-f**king classic!
“So? Huh? Whaddya think? Huh? Well?’Emily (15): What’s wrong with you?
Marley (11): That was weird.
Isabel (9): I LOVED it! It was AWESOME!
Satchel (5): Can I play the Wii now?
Disenchantment. Exasperation. Fail.
I reread the book again. I could taste the trust...the anticipation as we defy Grover and turn the page, the tickling blue fur and purple spongy nose that I fell in love with... I could feel it
all.
Then I read it again.
Okay, why is this so endearing to me? I scanned my memory banks… did Mom or Dad read this to me? Hell no.. they never read to me… Was it a beloved teacher? My very own Montambo? Gah… no…. where the hell did I first read this? Was it when I was older and thought it would make me cool to revisit my youthful Sesame Street Days? Could be… sounds a bit cliché for me, but okay…
Then I read it
again….
This book is freaking mental. I mean throughout the whole book you’re being told that you
shouldn’t turn the page because there’s a freaking monster at the end of it. Why do you keep turning the damn page? Is it the font? Is it the colorful print? Is it all the attempts that Grover makes to NOT make you turn the page? Rope and wood and bricks and nails and… Why didn’t this book scare the hell out of me? I’m a nervous Nellie by nature. Why didn’t I throw this book in the basement with the crickets and the
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass albums?
Okay, I get it… it’s supposed to teach kids to not judge and to not be afraid and to take a chance. Okay… but after a lifetime of disappointments and negative illuminations… this book leads to an anxiety attack. No double rainbows today.
Rating: really liked it
Top 8 Most Shocking Twists In Literature8. Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
7. We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley jackson
6. The Castle by Kafka (Twist ending: the guy dies! No, not that guy. Kafka. Like mid-sentence.)
5. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
4. Money: A Suicide Note by Martin Amis
3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (Reader, you
what? Why?)
2. Borges, especially most of The Aleph
1. The monster at the end of this book
A metafictional analysis of the crushing dichotomy between who we want to be and who we really are, this book contains the entire agony of a disillusioned life in its chained pages. Stone's avatar is, cleverly, an idol of our youth, the inexplicable Grover. We find him in his youthful idealism, vowing to keep the monster he feels lurking in the world around him at bay. We track him through his heroic efforts to beat fate itself. We feel the inevitability of his defeat - the ending is writ in the title. But this is our childhood champion, our Super Grover! How can he lose? We expect a twist ending. Surely, he cannot fail.
And then: the twist comes, but it's the twist of a dagger, as our protagonist realizes that he himself has always been the very thing he most fears.
He is the monster. You are the monster. We...we are all the monster.
Rating: really liked it
Little Golden Books were everywhere when my children were little. Now, forty years on, they are like hens' teeth. This, I ended up ordering online along with Grover's Own Alphabet for my grandson's Christmas parcel. However, I didn't hide everything as cleverly as I thought I had, and he stumbled upon my secret stash. I let him keep this out...
He wasn't too sure about the monster on the first reading. He laughed uproariously at Grover tying and nailing the pages together, then building a brick wall so that the pages couldn't get turned and bring us any closer to the monster at the end of the book. But when it came to actually turning the last page it was, 'You do it, Nana. You turn the page.'
Once he saw it was only Grover, he thought it was hilarious and we read The Monster at the End of This Book many times that afternoon. Luke loves this as much as his father and uncle did. And I love reading it. It has so much scope for amateur dramatics!
The Monster at the End of This Book is part of the excellent Sesame Street series.
Five big flashing shooting stars.
https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
Rating: really liked it
If you want to see your little ones not being able to stop giggling every time you
dare to turn a page; then you need to get this book.
Besides the beautiful words by Jon Stone, there are also these beautiful illustrations by Michael Smollin.
I have to say that if a book is good, it doesn't really matter when it was published. It can be popular and successful for ever.
This is our new favourite book.
Rating: really liked it
I bought this for my grandbaby, in the interest of getting him away from electronics and into real books.
We read it 4 times in the first sitting. Even then I had to cut him off so he could go home and get to bed....
#Win
Rating: really liked it
This book starts out great! I love Grover.
The problem is that Grover asks you to not turn any more pages, because of his belief that there is a monster at the end of the book. I decided to honor Grover's wish.
Oh, I turned a few pages. But when Grover took the time to tie all the pages together to discourage me from turning any more, well, I just didn't have the heart to go on. The little guy was really scared.
But I can't help but think.....are all monsters necessarily bad? You know it's funny - one could ALMOST consider Grover himself to be a type of monster.....
Well, it's not for me to decide now. I chose to respect Grover's feelings.
Rating: really liked it
We are the monster we fear.
We are also the monster that induces fear in others, sometimes by an act as simple as turning a page.
The reader is the author of meaning.
Simply existing and acting causes ripples in the realities of others which we are incapable of comprehending.
When you pick up a stone, the earth is lighter.
When you turn the page, you are one moment closer to your own death.
Not turning the page will not make the monster at the end of this book dissapear either, he will never go away.
He is you.
Rating: really liked it
This is a book that I read hundreds of times to my kids. It is so much fun! But, as a Gran, what I really love is hearing my daughter read it to her little boy with the same voices and inflections I used when I read it to her. Generations of readers!😊
Rating: really liked it
I do an ass kicking impersonation of Grover. Just ask my kids.
Actually, I can do any of the Muppets voiced by Frank Oz -- Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Sam the Eagle, Cookie Monster, Bert, even Yoda (which is my son's fave), but Grover is my best.
So when I was looking for a book for my little Scoutie a couple of months ago, something that I could hide away and save for just her and me, and I stumbled upon a little board book version of this Little Golden Book classic, I had to have it.
I'd forgotten all about it, but when I was a little kid this was one of my favourite books. When our twins came, and even when they started to like classic Sesame Street (they've still never seen an episode with Elmo and Zoe, or anything post 1979 ... what a proud Papa I am!), this book never crossed my mind. But when I saw the lone copy sitting up on that shelf, I snatched it and headed for the cashier.
As soon as I was in my car, I had the book out and I read it out loud, as Grover, to myself.
I love this book because Scoutie loves to hear me read it to her, and who doesn't love to have their babe waddle up with her favourite book in hand before climbing awkwardly onto your lap and saying "wead!"?
I love this book because it reminds me that I was once a little we babe crawling up onto my Mom's lap so she could read it to me.
I love this book because Grover is, for me, the most magical Sesame Street Muppet.
But mostly I love this book because
I love this book. It is clever and cute and fun, which is exactly what Grover is. If you've never read this yourself, you should. And if you have kids and haven't read it to them, you must.
Rating: really liked it
The creativity of author Jon Stone (director of the
Sesame Street television series from its 1969 inception all the way to 1994) is remarkable, and Michael J. Smollin's illustrations are a perfect fit. This is one of the earliest picture books I remember loving.
The Monster at the End of This Book has, in essence, been part of my life since the beginning, a wise and entertaining story I cherish always.
