The Big Ugly Monster and the Little Stone Rabbit - Hardcover

Wormell, Chris

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0375828915 ISBN 13: 9780375828911

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2004

Synopsis

ONCE IN A cave, lived a horrible ugly monster. Perhaps the most horrible and ugly monster in the world. . . .

So ugly is the monster that he can turn a blue sky to snow and evaporate a pond just by dipping his toe in it. No living thing can stand to be in his presence. But the monster is not ugly on the inside; he’s just lonely. So he decides to build some friends out of stone, but even stones can’t stand the full force of the monster’s smile, and they all shatter . . . except for one.

From the innovative author-illustrator Chris Wormell comes the story of a monster whose inner beauty will touch readers of all ages.

About this title

About the Author:

Chris Wormell was awarded the Ragazza Prize at the Bologna Book Fair in 1991. He is the author-illustrator of the Blue Rabbit books and The Animal Train. The author lives in England.

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 2–The premise of this story is a bit troubling. The omniscient narrator tells readers that once there was a big monster that lived in a cave. He was so ugly that birds and animals fled, the grass withered, and the trees shed their leaves in his presence. His supreme ugliness left him with only the rocks for company. This much-misunderstood, lonely creature began to craft animals out of stone, but they cracked to pieces when he smiled upon them. That is, all except a small stone rabbit that for some unknown reason survived and kept the monster company into his dotage. The rabbit keeps a silent vigil even after the monster's death and remains as his former environs morph into "perhaps the most beautiful place in the whole world." The fact that the monster is such a pitiable, benign character who is cruelly isolated due to his perceived ugliness is very sad indeed. His home's rebirth into lush splendor only after his death strikes an additionally tragic note. This tale may cause children to reflect on the unfairness of judging and rejecting others based on their physical attributes, but the lack of a positive resolution during the monster's lifetime also sends a somewhat hopeless message. The color illustrations portray a rather engagingly hideous creature with hidden charms and depths. So much so that children may be left to wonder what all the fuss was about regarding the monster's ugliness.–Rosalyn Pierini, San Luis Obispo City-County Library, CA
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About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0375828915
• ISBN 13: 9780375828911
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32