The Beast and the Babysitter

PreSchool-Grade 1-- Poorly drawn, garishly colored pictures combine with an insipid text to make this a forgettable book. Poor Lewis must keep his baby sister entertained, or their mean babysitter won't take him to the playground. Fortunately, he has a friendly beast (which the unimaginative babysitter can't see) to help him. Stereotypes abound. "Oh fudge!" says the teenaged babysitter when Lewis interrupts her reading of a romance novel about nurses. "Me get out!" says Meggie, the baby. The Beast, first seen in The Beast in the Bathtub (Gareth Stevens, 1985) is not the least bit frightening, but like Lewis and his sister, exudes a saccharine, cartoonlike cuteness. Monster fans eager for sequels to Mercer Mayer's books should consider Pete Seeger's Abiyoyo ( Macmillan, 1985) and Val Willis' beautifully crafted The Secret in the Matchbox (Farrar, 1988). --Ruth Smith, Chicago Public Library
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.