Jitterbug Jam: A Monster Tale

An outstanding, ingenious text, which brilliantly explores preconception and prejudice (from both sides).

There is a boy under Bobo’s bed. A scary boy with pink skin and orange fur on top of his head and, worst of all, eyes the awful colour the sky is when you wake up in the middle of the day. So next bedtime, Bobo crawls under the kitchen cabinet and decides he’s not going to bed, not now, not ever. But then Boo-Dad comes. And Boo-Dad, the biggest, baddest grandpa ever, has the answer to Bobo’s problem, if only Bobo can be brave enough to give it a try.

Very soon in the story you realize that things are not quite the way you thought they were, and that who is who’s monster, is open to question.

Barbara Jean Hicks lives in Seattle, Washington, where she is author-in-residence at an elementary school. This is her first book for children.

Alexis Deacon's previous book, Beegu, was a New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Book of the Year. He lives in London, England.