Go Away, Big Green Monster!

In response to children putting scarves over their heads and pretending to be ghosts, playing monster, and experiencing Halloween, Diane reads Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley, this week at meeting. As she turns the pages of the book, a monster face is created, feature by feature, until it is complete. Then the narrator tells all the parts of the monster face to "go away!" –– Go away, little squiggly ears! Go away, bluish-greenish nose! ... until there is no monster left. Throughout the reading, many children are eager to talk about what they know and feel about monsters.

Livia  Do you know what? I’m gonna be a monster for Halloween.

Ellie  I’m gonna be a monster for Halloween.

Elliot  Happy Halloween.

Josie  Diane, I already had my Halloween.

Stella  I already had my Halloween.

Livia  I already had my Halloween.

Wesley  I had my Halloween.

Ellie  And I had my Halloween with my dad, and my brother was a zommmbie.

Lila  And I gonna be a kitty cat.

Diane  I know today some people pretended to be ghosts – somebody was a raspberry ghost.

Lila  My brother’s gonna be a ghost.

Josie  And I was a tiger.

Elliot  I tiger. Tiger, roar!

Diane reads: Go away, big red mouth!

Lila laughs  It’s going to go away up up to the sky!

Ellie  I don’t like monsters.

Livia  I don’t like monsters.

Chris  I don’t like monsters, too.

Kesler  I sometimes like monsters.

Wesley (?)  I don’t like tigers that bite.

Stella (?)  I don’t like elephants that bite.

Josie  I don’t like monsters ‘cause then they’ll eat me all up.

Diane  Should we say “go away” to the teeth? We could say, “go away, white teeth!”

Livia  I don’t like monsters because they eat me all up.

Wesley  I don’t like monsters that bite.

Ellie  The monsters will eat me all up.

Livia  They eat me all up too.

Kesler  Only pretend monsters can.

Diane gets to the end of the book: Go away, big green monster! (turns page)

Jamie  What does that say?

Diane  This says “And don’t come back – until I say so!”

Ellie smiles  The monster’s gone.

Jamie  Why?

Jack  What is that sign (pointing to the words on the page)?

Diane  What are the words? It says, “And don’t come back – until I say so!”

Jack  Oh.

Stella  What do the green ones (words) say?

Diane  The green words say: “until I say so.”

This story gives the children a sense of control over their fears combined with a sense of playfulness. It incorporates hiding and revealing – the monster is revealed then is hidden, and the reader has the power to make this happen.