Parents always tell their children to go play with other children on the
playground. When the mother in Hello, Monster! tells her son to join
another boy in the sandbox while he is happily playing by himself, he
rebels. His mother never talks to strangers, and what if the other boy
is a monster disguised as a child that will trap him in his underground
kingdom with all the other children who cook his meals and look after
his pet moles?
The boy hatches a plan for all of them to escape, but when they do, they
encounter a black panther. Luckily, the panther prefers to eat monsters
over children, and after his dinner, he tells the children stories of
the jungle until five in the morning. The children watch the sun rise as
they return home to their worried parents, who feel guilty and let them
stay home and eat cake all day, never telling them to "go play with that
boy" ever again.
With lively and whimsical illustrations, Hello, Monster! is a creative
story about respect for the imagination, solitude, and children's inner
worlds.