Even Monsters Need Haircuts: kids' book full of great monsters

Matthew McElligott's Even Monsters Need Haircuts is a cute picture book about a boy who sneaks into his father's barbershop every full moon and gives haircuts to all the neighborhood monsters. It's full of sight gags -- barbering a gorgon while wearing a blindfold; cutting Frankenstein's monster's hair with a clipper that's plugged into one of his neck bolts -- and complex pictures filled with tons of interesting monsters with extra limbs, eyes, heads, etc, to talk about with your kids.

I brought a copy along on the summer family holiday and it quickly became the favorite of my two-and-a-half year old daughter and three-and-a-half year old nephew, who demanded to hear it read until they'd memorized it. The grownups in the cottage liked the scene where the monsters all help the boy clean up the barbershop at the end of the night, and we made reference to it every time we tried to get the kids to clean up their toys (it worked pretty well!).

Even Monsters Need Haircuts

• [kmoser]

  They need manicures, too. Monsters are such interesting people.

• [Aunt Babe]

  One of my favorite books growing up was Norman Bridwell’s “How to Care For Your Monster”. Forget Clifford books, this one told you how to wrap your mummy and keep your vampire looking sharp. Great pics from the book here:

  http://frankensteinia.blogspot.com/2008/04/norman-bridwells-how-to-care-for-your.html

• [AllisonWunderland]

  OK, since we’re putting together a bibliography:

  “Monsters Inc” from Pixar Pictures, 2001

  Really good “kids pictures” are the ones that keep the adults entertained too.