The Monster at the End of This Book
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| Written by | Jon Stone |
| Illustrator | Michael Smollin |
| Published | 1971 |
| Publisher | Golden Press |
| Series | |
| ISBN | 0-307-01085-6 |
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 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) and Big Bird's Red Book (1977).
A sequel, Another Monster at the End of This Book, was published in 1997. 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.
See also
Sources
- ↑ Children's Television Workshop Newsletter. Number 27, February 1, 1973.
