Comments on: The Monster at the end of this e-Book

The Monster at the end of this e-Book

nobody — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 15:54:33 -0800

The Monster at the end of this e-Book. Grover, it turns out, is among the best of the web. And since we're already here, little Robert's and Haley's reimaginings via "Kay's Home Page" (Grover lesson plan included).

By: The Great Big Mulp

The Great Big Mulp — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 15:59:04 -0800

Holy fucking shit! This has brough back memories. You've made my day, man.

By: The Great Big Mulp

The Great Big Mulp — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 15:59:49 -0800

And inspired unintentional haiku! Nice!

By: gleuschk

gleuschk — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:03:23 -0800

It's not every day that you realize your favorite book ever in the whole wide world is one you haven't read since you could read. Thanks. I loved that lovable furry bastard.

By: JeffK

JeffK — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:07:21 -0800

That. Was. AWESOME!

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:11:03 -0800

I'm afraid to keep turning pages... (Thanks a million for this!)

By: chuq

chuq — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:14:40 -0800

I loved this book too, even though I was way too old for its intended age range (I think I was nine when it first came out). It was actually my little sister's copy, and I'd put aside my latest Encyclopedia Brown book and grab this one out of her room. Oh, I am so embarrassed ... It's still in print, too -- hope they don't get a cease-and-desist.

By: keswick

keswick — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:15:38 -0800

BEST. FPP. EVER.

By: Guy Smiley

Guy Smiley — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:15:50 -0800

Oh, how I loved this book. Gleefully tearing down Grover's frantically-built defenses, and watching him beg for mercy as we hurtle toward his doom (so he thinks)... Hey, that's kind of messed up.

By: padraigin

padraigin — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:20:00 -0800

Ha! My mom just mailed my childhood copy of this book to my three year old, who thinks it is the height of comedy. I'm going to add this link to my kid's bookmarks (yeah, she's got her own, she's a 21st century baby).

By: youcancallmeal

youcancallmeal — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:24:20 -0800

In case I didn't already have a MetaCrush on nobody, I do now. Thanks, man.

By: Malor

Malor — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:25:21 -0800

I LOVED this book as a kid, it was absolutely my all-time favorite. Thanks so much for posting it. :)

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:28:44 -0800

Does this book remind anyone else of the Milgram experiment? The way Grover keeps pleading with the reader not to turn the page....

By: jrossi4r

jrossi4r — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:31:50 -0800

My husband and I both loved this book as kids. We bought it for our daughter before she was even born. And the really, really cool thing about it is that it is one of the few books that is as fun for the reader as it is for the listener.

By: AMWKE

AMWKE — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:37:19 -0800

I fucking loved this book as a child.

By: avocet

avocet — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:38:52 -0800

Best book evar!

By: longsleeves

longsleeves — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:44:07 -0800

Grover rules! Elmo drools.

By: duck

duck — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:44:29 -0800

Cool...but the reimagings were dumb: "What would Grover had done if there really had been a monster at the end of the book?" Umm...there was a monster at the end of the book.

By: interrobang

interrobang — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:55:38 -0800

Thanks. I had this book, along with many volumes of the Sesame Street Library, and I loved it.

By: furtive

furtive — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:55:48 -0800

You all owe the Henson estate $12.00. Great link.

By: Balisong

Balisong — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 17:00:08 -0800

I've been thinking of naming my (soon to be) first child Grover (if it's a boy). More out of respect for the 22'nd and 24'th president as well as the furry monster, and not so much Grover Norquist. My parents think it's a bad idea from the standpoint that there has been a popular monster named Grover. People still name their kids George, though. Maybe I'll just stick with Zebulon. Also, didn't a few people get their panties in a knot the last time a copyrighted book was posted in it's entirety on the blue?

By: dan g.

dan g. — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 17:02:45 -0800

great memories...

By: Fully Completely

Fully Completely — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 17:03:56 -0800

Wow, flipping through that gave me some serious deja-vu. I checked with my mom, and that was one of my first books. I'm surprised that this stuck out so much in my memory.

By: Robot Johnny

Robot Johnny — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 17:07:17 -0800

You all owe the Henson estate $12.00. Or at least $2.99 plus shipping.

By: snsranch

snsranch — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 17:08:36 -0800

Yea, the kid's part could have been more informed. I love kids drawings but these were far from nailing it. Oh, cool post!

By: VulcanMike

VulcanMike — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 17:26:18 -0800

Anyone have any guesses as to how the pages were captured? The colors look great, and since it's a pretty wide page I was wondering if it was a photo setup rather than a scanner...

By: davejay

davejay — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 17:43:42 -0800

Oh oh oh, I forgot about this book. One of my favorites growing up, and now I have kids who have not yet begun to read. I am picking up this book immediately. My favorite line: Do you know that you are very strong?

By: AndrewStephens

AndrewStephens — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 17:56:38 -0800

Just the other day I was trying to convince a coworker that The Monster at the End of This Book was one of the greatest works of literature in English. Although he is the same age as me, he had never heard of it, a fact I found disturbing. Thanks for the link. I love the 70s art work - groovy.

By: cmyk

cmyk — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 18:12:19 -0800

Do you know that you are very strong? nobody, this made my day. I haven't read this book since I could read.

By: LeLiLo

LeLiLo — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 18:21:58 -0800

I thought the monster at the end of the book would be Trogdor. Actually, I loved reading this book to my kid when he was two or three, long long ago. He loved it too; thanks for the memories.

By: PhatLobley

PhatLobley — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 18:42:09 -0800

Holy cow. I'm so ashamed I hadn't thought of this book, which I loved when I was little, for years. I have to say, though, that the little arrows you click to turn each page aren't nearly as much fun as your uncle insisting he needed your help to turn the one with the brick wall on it. That's the kind of stuff that makes a childhood idyllic. Thanks, nobody. I'm probably gonna buy this book now, which I wouldn't have if I had gone on not thinking about it. So all that copyright sketchiness doesn't apply to me.

By: TwelveTwo

TwelveTwo — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 18:43:51 -0800

The original "Don't Press."

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 18:53:13 -0800

To add to the pile-on, yeah it was my little brother's book but I always loved paging through it too. I could remember just about the exact sequence and the general composition of each page but I had forgotten how seventies-style a lot of the voice balloons and stuff were. I guess because they weren't "seventies-style" at the time...

By: booksandlibretti

booksandlibretti — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 19:15:09 -0800

Am I the only one who had an audio version of this on a special Sesame Street tape recorder/reader thing? "STOP! Do not press the red button!!!"

By: nadawi

nadawi — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 19:16:05 -0800

Thank you. This is awesome. It ws one of my favorite books as a child. It was the first book my nephew ever read to me. I might get a little emotional.

By: muddylemon

muddylemon — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 19:34:55 -0800

I remember taking this book to kindergarten, our teacher would ask each of us to bring in a book that she would read at storytime. I remember her being confused because I kept insisting she read the the cover of the book (usually she'd just skip to the story.) I couldn't seem to convince her that she would ruin the whole book if she didn't read it. My two year old has figured out the joke and isn't interested in it anymore. If i pick up this book he just rolls his eyes and says "Monster is Grover!" Apparently he thinks I'm dense.

By: evilcolonel

evilcolonel — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 19:58:49 -0800

Actually, tooling around the site, it appears to belong to the illustrator, Michael Smollin (or a family member.) There's a full catalogue of his Sesame Street books. (WARNING: some of you may be enraged by this.) Is it still published as a Little Golden Book? It was one of many in my collection. Also, the Sesame Street Library -- the best part about books from Safeway is that they SMELL like Safeway!

By: gleuschk

gleuschk — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 20:17:03 -0800

Wow, that's spectacularly awful, evilcolonel. I am indeed enraged. (And more than a little weirded out by Elmo in his "pusher" role.)

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 20:18:00 -0800

I have to say, though, that the little arrows you click to turn each page aren't nearly as much fun as your uncle insisting he needed your help to turn the one with the brick wall on it. That's the kind of stuff that makes a childhood idyllic. Damn straight. And it has to be read aloud using a Grover voice.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 20:21:41 -0800

(WARNING: some of you may be enraged by this.) Do not click that link. It leads to an awful Elmo-ised version of the book. And lord knows why, but Sesame Street decided it was a good idea for Elmo to not listen to his elders. Nothing better than teaching one's kids to misbehave! I hate Elmo. I hope the person -- no, it must be "persons," he has all the qualities of a committee-designed idea -- who created Elmo has suffered for it. Bad deeds should not go unpunished.

By: eleyna

eleyna — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 21:12:02 -0800

That was my favorite book as a child, and when I was in college, I saw it on the shelf one day and I bought it, knowing I would someday read it to my own kids. Now my 4-year-old loves it just as much as I did. *sniff* Hooray for Grover.

By: squarehead

squarehead — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 21:46:02 -0800

By: stefanie

stefanie — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 22:06:45 -0800

Yep, they still publish the book; I buy copies to put in baby shower packages so I can start the kids off right.

By: hortense

hortense — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 22:16:55 -0800

Thanks! my grand kids are due for a visit, and this is great.

By: arcticwoman

arcticwoman — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 22:30:35 -0800

I had completely forgotten about this book. Thanks! I loved it at a kid.

By: brujita

brujita — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 00:21:27 -0800

This book is the reason why I say Grover is like the Wolf Man--neither of them like being monsters.

By: pracowity

pracowity — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 02:05:23 -0800

Mahna Mahna.

By: malocchio

malocchio — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 07:20:26 -0800

Loved it as a kid, and bought a copy for my nephew a couple of years ago. It's great to see that I'm not the only one with such fond memories!

By: Space Coyote

Space Coyote — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 09:12:40 -0800

Best use of the wikipedia spoiler warning, ever. Link.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 10:02:31 -0800

A political metaphor starring Grover and Elmo? Red, Blue, finger-pointing, name-calling...

By: Sibrax

Sibrax — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 11:26:45 -0800

Holy cow, I haven't seen that thing in about 20 years. I loved that book! Thanks.

By: darkstar

darkstar — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 12:00:26 -0800

Great book! This one and "Where The Wild Things Are" are the only two childhood books among my top-30 all-time favorites.

By: deusdiabolus

deusdiabolus — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 13:28:21 -0800

Grover has a posse.

By: jb

jb — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 17:45:51 -0800

Metafiction picture books. The world needs more of them. I have photos of my mom reading this book to me. Okay, I was fifteen, but I was shooting a portrait of her, and she picked the book. It's still one of her favorite books to read aloud.