Changes: The Monster at the End of This Book

Written by	Jon Stone
Illustrator	Michael Smollin
Published	1971
Publisher	Golden Press
ISBN	0307010856

Revision as of 02:19, 22 October 2013

Monster1971lgb — *The Monster at the End of This Book* (1971)

The Monster at the End of This Book was published in 1971 by Golden Press. It was written by Jon Stone and illustrated by Mike Smollin.

In this book, Grover is horrified to learn that there is a monster at the end of the book and begs the reader not to finish it, so as to avoid the monster. He uses several methods to try and keep the reader from progressing, including tying the pages shut and cementing them together with bricks. After each page is turned, the results of the failed effort is shown, and Grover tries a new method to keep the reader from turning yet another page. To the amusement and relief of Grover, the monster at the end of the book turns out to be none other than himself.

In its first year of publication, the book, which is one of the first to star Grover, sold two million copies. According to an internal Children's Television Workshop newsletter, "this figure, according to publishing sources, is an all-time one-year sales record for a single book." ^[1]

The book's style, with Grover speaking directly to the reader in comic book-style word balloons, was used in other 1970s and early 1980s Sesame books, including Grover and the Everything in the Whole Wide World Museum (1974), Oscar's Book (1975), Would You Like to Play Hide & Seek in This Book With Lovable, Furry Old Grover? (1976), Big Bird's Red Book (1977) and Lovable Furry Old Grover's Resting Places (1984).

Sequels and variations

A sequel, Another Monster at the End of This Book, was published in 1996. It was also written by Stone and illustrated by Smollin, and features Grover and Elmo as the other monster at the end of the book.

A personalized version of the book was released in 2004 by Random House; purchasers could order the book with a personalized dedication page.

In 2006, Random House published an "interactive" version of the book, Please Do Not Open this Book!, which included moving parts and flaps.

On January 30, 2013, Sesame Street's official Twitter feed was taken over by Grover, who is told there's a monster at the end of the Twitter conversation, with a blacked out photo of Grover slowly being revealed with each tweet. The conversation included a shout-out from Grover to actor Wil Wheaton who retweeted and commented on the live-stream of tweets.^[2]

The 2013 DVD, Being Brave, is framed with sequences of Grover trying to avoid the "Monster at the End of This Show." (Behind-the-scenes of the filming)

Reissues

Animation and eBooks

DVD screenshot
eBook screenshot
eBook screenshot
iPad screenshot
iPad screenshot
Kindle screenshot

In 2009, Hinkler Books released the book with a StoryVision DVD adaptation of the book. Grover (Eric Jacobson) narrates the story as a child's hand (played by Edward Dix) turns the pages. Smollin's original art inspires the animation by Neil Goodridge.

On December 7, 2009, Sesame Workshop released the book as an audio-enabled free eBook with highlights.^[3]

In 2010, iTunes released an special animated version of the book for iPad. Like the StoryVision DVD adaptation of the book from 2009, this version is once again narrated by Eric Jacobson as the voice of Grover.

In 2012, Amazon Digital Services released a Kindle edition of the book.

Translations

Reviews

“The Monster at the End of This Book written by Jon Stone and illustrated by Michael Smollin and published as a Little Golden Book in 1971. Here Sesame Street's Grover begs the reader not to turn the pages because it will bring him closer to the monster at book's end; all the more reason of course to keep going. Grover tries to prevent the reader's advance with ropes, wood and bricks. Hilarity ensues when the reader turns out to be stronger than Grover ever expects. Of course Grover's bete noir turns out to be himself. A great first metafiction reissued by LGB a few years back, just for my kids apparently.”

-- David Sornig, Wordsville Book Tweep, October 23, 2009

References

There's a Monster at the End of This Tweet

In a 2010 appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Super Grover 2.0 jumped underneath Fallon's desk after seeing the title of the book, as "that book makes [him] very scared!"
Grover once Tweeted about a monster at the end of his tweet.
On January 30, 2013, Grover took over the Sesame Street Twitter account to tweet about "a Monster at the the end of this Twitter conversation." He pleaded with followers not to re-tweet or respond to the posts in fear of revealing the monster at the end. Grover even engaged with Wil Wheaton who retweeted and responded to several of the tweets. As with the original book, the monster at the end turned out to be Grover himself. (Tweets)

Cultural references

The Johnny Bravo episode "The Hunk at the End of this Cartoon" parodies this book.
In a 2010 episode of The Electric Company, Lisa is seen reading a copy of the book to some kids.

Sources

↑ Children's Television Workshop Newsletter. Number 27, February 1, 1973.
↑ 'Sesame Street' and Grover Get Monster Win on Twitter
↑ "Sesame Workshop Plans Children's E-Books", The Wall Street Journal. December 7, 2009.

External links

"Monster at End of Book Claims Life of TV's Grover", The Onion. June 2, 1999.
"The Triple Book Review", X-Entertainment. June 7, 2004.

[1] Children's Television Workshop Newsletter. Number 27, February 1, 1973.

[2] 'Sesame Street' and Grover Get Monster Win on Twitter

[3] "Sesame Workshop Plans Children's E-Books", The Wall Street Journal. December 7, 2009.

[1]

[2]

[3]

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 The book's style, with Grover speaking directly to the reader in comic book-style word balloons, was used in other 1970s and early 1980s ''Sesame'' books, including ''[[Grover and the Everything in the Whole Wide World Museum]]'' (1974), ''[[Oscar's Book]]'' (1975), ''[[Would You Like to Play Hide & Seek in This Book With Lovable, Furry Old Grover?]]'' (1976), ''[[Big Bird's Red Book]]'' (1977) and ''[[Lovable Furry Old Grover's Resting Places]]'' (1984).
+==Sequels and variations==
 A sequel, ''[[Another Monster at the End of This Book]]'', was published in 1996. It was also written by Stone and illustrated by Smollin, and features Grover and [[Elmo]] as the other monster at the end of the book.
+A personalized version of the book was released in 2004 by Random House; purchasers could order the book with a personalized dedication page.
 In 2006, Random House published an "interactive" version of the book, ''[[Please Do Not Open this Book!]]'', which included moving parts and flaps.
+On January 30, [[2013]], Sesame Street's official [[Twitter]] feed was taken over by Grover, who is told there's a monster at the end of the Twitter conversation, with a blacked out photo of Grover slowly being revealed with each tweet. The conversation included a shout-out from Grover to actor [[Wil Wheaton]] who retweeted and commented on the live-stream of tweets.<ref>[http://mashable.com/2013/01/30/sesame-street-grover-twitter/ 'Sesame Street' and Grover Get Monster Win on Twitter]</ref>
-In 2009, Hinkler Books released the book with a StoryVision DVD adaptation of the book. Grover ([[Eric Jacobson]]) narrates the story as a child's hand (played by Edward Dix) turns the pages. Smollin's original art inspires the animation by Neil Goodridge.
+The 2013 DVD, ''[[Being Brave]]'', is framed with sequences of Grover trying to avoid the "Monster at the End of This Show." <small>([http://www.sesamestreet.org/parents/blog/-/blogs/grover-and-eric?_33_redirect=%2Fparents%2Fblog Behind-the-scenes of the filming])</small>
-Australian writer David Sornig considered this book to be his favorite when he was a child, along with ''Max und Moritz'' and ''Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories'', in a Book Tweep on Wordsville from October 2009.<ref>[http://www.paulagrunseit.com/?p=1206 Book Tweep - David Sornig | Wordsville]</ref>
+<gallery perrow="3" widths="200" heights="225px" captionalign="left">
+Anothermonster-lgb.jpg|''[[Another Monster at the End of This Book]]''
+ReissuePersonalizedCopyCoupon.jpg|Personalized version
+Book.pleasedonotopen.jpg|''[[Please Do Not Open this Book!]]''
+</gallery>
 ==Reissues==
-<gallery perrow=3 widths=200px heights=225px>
+<gallery perrow="3" widths="200" heights="225px" captionalign="left">
 Image:Monster1999jellybean.jpg|1999<br>Random House<br>Jellybean Books<br>ISBN 0375804013
 Image:Monster2000boardbk.jpg|2000<br>Random House<br>Big Bird's Favorites Board Books<br>ISBN 0375805613
 Image:Monster-end-of-book.jpg|2003<br>Random House<br>A Little Golden Book<br>ISBN 0307010856
 Image:Monster2004biglgb.jpg|2004<br>Random House<br>A Big Little Golden Book<br>ISBN 037582913X
-Image:Book.pleasedonotopen.jpg|2006<br>Random House<br>''Please Do Not Open this Book!''<br>ISBN 0375836837
 Image:Monsterendofbookdvd.jpg|2009<br>Hinkler Books<br>Story Vision<br>ISBN 1741812224
+</gallery>
+==Animation and eBooks==
+<gallery type="slideshow" position="right" crop="true">
 Image:Monster-end-book-dvd.jpg|DVD screenshot
+TheMonsterattheendofThisBookEbookscreenshot1.jpg|eBook screenshot
+TheMonsterattheendofThisBookEbookscreenshot2.jpg|eBook screenshot
+TheMonsterattheendofthisbookIpadversion2.jpg|iPad screenshot
+TheMonsterattheendofthisbookIpadversion4.jpg|iPad screenshot
+TheMonsterattheEndofThisBook2012KindleEdition.jpg|Kindle screenshot
 </gallery>
+In 2009, Hinkler Books released the book with a StoryVision DVD adaptation of the book. Grover ([[Eric Jacobson]]) narrates the story as a child's hand (played by Edward Dix) turns the pages. Smollin's original art inspires the animation by Neil Goodridge.
+On December 7, 2009, [[Sesame Workshop]] released the book as an audio-enabled free eBook with highlights.<ref>[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703735004574576223643509900.html "Sesame Workshop Plans Children's E-Books"], The Wall Street Journal. December 7, 2009.</ref>
+In 2010, [[The iTunes Store|iTunes]] released an special animated version of the book for iPad. Like the StoryVision DVD adaptation of the book from 2009, this version is once again narrated by Eric Jacobson as the voice of Grover.
+In 2012, [[Amazon.com|Amazon Digital Services]] released a Kindle edition of the book.
 ==Translations==
 <gallery>
 Image:Grovermonsterboek.jpg|{{GNH|Grover en het Monster achter in het Boek}}[[The Netherlands]]
+Image:The monster at the end of this book hebrew.jpg|{{GNH|המפלצת שבסוף הספר הזה}}[[Israel]]
 </gallery>
 ==Reviews==
+{{quote|''The Monster at the End of This Book'' written by Jon Stone and illustrated by Michael Smollin and published as a Little Golden Book in 1971. Here ''[[Sesame Street]]'''s Grover begs the reader not to turn the pages because it will bring him closer to the monster at book's end; all the more reason of course to keep going. Grover tries to prevent the reader's advance with ropes, wood and bricks. Hilarity ensues when the reader turns out to be stronger than Grover ever expects. Of course Grover's bete noir turns out to be himself. A great first metafiction reissued by LGB a few years back, just for my kids apparently.}}
-{{quote
-|''The Monster at the End of This Book'' written by Jon Stone and illustrated by Michael Smollin and published as a Little Golden Book in 1971. Here ''Sesame Street'''s Grover begs the reader not to turn the pages because it will bring him close to the monster at book's end; all the more reason of course to keep going. Grover tries to prevent the reader's advance with ropes, wood and bricks. Hilarity ensues when the reader turns out to be stronger than Grover ever expects. Of course Grover's bete noir turns out to be himself. A great first metafiction reissued by LGB a few years back, just for my kids apparently.
+::''-- David Sornig, Wordsville Book Tweep, October 23, 2009''
-}}
+==References==
+[[Image:LNWJF-SuperGrover2.0-03-(2010-09-24).jpg|thumb|300px]]
+[[Image:There's a Monster at the End of This Tweet.png|thumb|300px]]
+*In a 2010 appearance on ''[[Late Night with Jimmy Fallon]]'', [[Super Grover 2.0]] jumped underneath Fallon's desk after seeing the title of the book, as "that book makes [him] very scared!"
+*Grover once [[Twitter|Tweeted]] about a monster at [[:file:There's a Monster at the End of This Tweet.png|the end of his tweet]].
+*On January 30, 2013, Grover took over the Sesame Street Twitter account to tweet about "a Monster at the the end of this Twitter conversation." He pleaded with followers not to re-tweet or respond to the posts in fear of revealing the monster at the end. Grover even engaged with [[Wil Wheaton]] who retweeted and responded to several of the tweets. As with the original book, the monster at the end turned out to be Grover himself. <small>([http://www.wired.com/geekmom/2013/01/monster-twitter-conversation/ Tweets])</small>
+===Cultural references===
-::''-- David Sorning, Wordsville Book Tweep, October 2009''
+* The ''[[Johnny Bravo]]'' episode "The Hunk at the End of this Cartoon" parodies this book.
+* In a 2010 episode of ''[[The Electric Company]]'', Lisa is seen reading a copy of the book to some kids.
 ==Sources==

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