Buying Options

Read for Free

OR

Kindle Price: $4.99

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Enter a promotion code or Gift Card

That Monster on the Block by [Sue Ganz-Schmitt, Luke Flowers]

Follow the Authors

Luke Flowers

Sue Ganz-Schmitt

That Monster on the Block Kindle Edition

by Sue Ganz-Schmitt (Author), Luke Flowers (Illustrator) Format: Kindle Edition

3,554 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$4.99

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$10.99

$10.43

$5.17

Kindle
$0.00 Read with Kindle Unlimited to also enjoy access to over 1 million more titles $4.99 to buy
Hardcover
$10.99

24 Used from $5.17 22 New from $10.43

Monster is excited to see what kind of creature will move into Vampire’s old house on the block. He even starts practicing his welcome growl for the new neighbor. But when the moving truck pulls up, it’s not a greedy goblin, an ogre, or a dastardly dragon that steps out. Instead, it’s something even more terrifying than Monster could have imagined! Monster quickly rallies the other neighbors to unite against the new guy on the block. But what if the new neighbor isn’t exactly as bad as Monster thinks? Join Monster as he confronts his fears in this charming and lighthearted look at what it means to accept others who are different from us.

Reading age

2 - 7 years, from customers
Language

English
Grade level

Preschool - 3
Publisher

Two Lions
Publication date

October 1, 2020
Page Flip

Not Enabled
Word Wise

Not Enabled
Enhanced typesetting

Not Enabled
ISBN-13

978-1542005340
See all details

Maureen Wright
270
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $3.99
Frank Tupta
274
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $3.99
Anna Kang
2,098
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $1.99
Ilaria Guarducci
579
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $4.99
Michael Engler
1,357
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $1.99
Doug Cushman
96
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $4.99

Create your FREE Amazon Business account to save up to 10% with Business-only prices and free shipping. Register today

Editorial Reviews

Review

“This humorous, fast-paced story, narrated with clipped sentences, conveys an important, unsubtle message about the importance of accepting diversity…This entertaining tale about making new friends may also help readers conquer their fear of clowns.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A closed-minded monster begins to broaden his perspective as a group of familiar Halloween characters address otherness and tolerance…With the good times rolling all around him, Monster’s resolve softens, and he starts opening up to making a friend. The proceedings are energetic and fun—with onomatopoeic words and boldly hued digital artwork that toggles between spot illustrations, smaller panels, and spreads.” —Publishers Weekly

“This book also has a great message about diversity. Monster can’t wait to see what kind of creature will move into the newly vacant old house on the block—daydreaming about ogres and other dastardly potential menaces. Then, Monster and his neighbors are disappointed to learn the newest addition is actually a squeaky clown. Clown finds a way to bond with the rest of the neighborhood, and the story teaches empathy and kindness in a silly Halloween setting.” —Book Riot

From the Publisher

When That Monster on the Block crossed my desk, I knew immediately that I wanted to publish it. It’s a book that’s both playful and very important.

On its face, this is a story about a new neighbor moving in. And Monster, who lives next door, is not happy about it, because (spoiler alert!) that neighbor is a clown. Clowns are creepy, right? Monster’s other neighbors all seem to agree. (To be honest, some humans I know have feelings about clowns as well.) But when Monster says uncomfortably familiar things like “There goes the neighborhood!” and “Before you know it there will be more!” we humans are exposed too.

One of the great powers of the picture book format is the simplicity with which a message can be delivered. Through the endearing characters in this story, a light shines on how terribly unfair it is to be prejudiced toward someone simply because of a group they belong to. In this case, the message is direct and honest—but not at all heavy-handed. And wouldn’t you know it, Clown turns out to be a barrel of laughs!

- Marilyn Brigham, Editor

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07YL8Z7LF
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Two Lions (October 1, 2020)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 1, 2020
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 8056 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Not enabled
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #38,126 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #8 in Children's Prejudice & Racism books
- #93 in Children's Books on Prejudice & Racism
- #134 in Children's Books on Friendship

Customer Reviews:
3,554 ratings

About the authors

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Luke Flowers
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.
Luke Flowers has illustrated more than sixty children’s books. Most notably, the New York Times Best-seller “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” poems by Fred Rogers, the award-winning “Unicorn Day”, by Diana Murray, and Disney’s “The Muppet Christmas Carol” storybook. He is also both author and illustrator of “Jim Henson’s Labyrinth ABC Storybook” and the “Moby Shinobi” series with Scholastic. The “Moby Shinobi” book series has sold over a million copies since book #1 was published in 2016.
When Luke isn’t illustrating or writing in his creative cave he enjoys puppetry, playing banjo, basketball and outdoor adventures with his family. He lives with his wife and three children in Colorado Springs. Colorado. Learn more about his story, books and art at lukeflowers.com.
He has created work for a range of clients that include Scholastic, Penguin Random House, Little Golden Books, Disney Publishing, Fred Rogers Productions, The Jim Henson Company, Nickelodeon, Little Bee Books, Insight Editions, Imprint (Macmillan), Two Lions, Sourcebooks, Hallmark, Highlights, Albert Whitman Co., Hachette Book Group, Workman Publishing, The Smithsonian Institute, Discovery House Publishing, Cantata Learning and Capstone Publishing.
To enjoy more of Luke's work, please visit lukeflowerscreative.com
See more on the author's page
Sue Ganz-Schmitt
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.
SUE is an award-winning children’s book author, musical theater producer, SCBWI member, and philanthropist. She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts in writing for children and young adults. Sue has performed in RENT on Broadway, run a marathon, and pursues other improbable and exciting challenges—as often as she can.
Her books include THAT MONSTER ON THE BLOCK, NOW, I'M A BIRD, PLANET KINDERGARTEN, PLANET KINDERGARTEN:100 DAYS IN ORBIT, THE PRINCESS AND THE PEANUT: A ROYALLY ALLERGIC FAIRYTALE, and EVEN SUPERHEROES GET DIABETES.
Sue has served as a NASA Social Media correspondent, a volunteer for The Planetary Society, and a space advocate representing the Space Exploration Alliance to Congress. She has also written and produced a STEAM video featured by The Planetary Society (The Galaxy Girls Save Pluto).
You can often find Sue at her home in the Los Angeles mountains with her eyes to the stars.
See more on the author's page

Customer reviews

5 star		76%
4 star		14%
3 star		6%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Reviews with images

See all customer images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Holly Quinn

Jumping through hoops for acceptance

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2020

Verified Purchase

I love the artwork and the concept of monster towns in general, but as an allegory for inclusion it relies too much on Clown's value being based on what he can do for them -- and a lot of it is him buying them stuff. The monsters do eventually reciprocate after Clown has (literally) jumped through hoops and showered them with gifts and fetched stuff for them.

I get that it was supposed to show that Clown was nice, but he could have just been nice. He could have been rightfully frustrated by his unwelcoming neighbors and not gone out of the way to help them 24/7 and he still would have deserved respect, but that's a message that didn't come through, imo.

71 people found this helpful

Helpful

PERFECT FOR HALLOWEEN – AND THE TIMES WE LIVE IN

Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2020

Because I am assuming you are considering acquiring this book for your child, I will tell you the plot. Spoilers abound.

PLOT: Monster is excited about his new neighbor – until he realizes that it's a clown! Neighborhood meetings are held. Ostracism is preached. But Clown wins everyone over, including Monster. By the time the next new neighbor moves in, minds and hearts have been opened.

TEXT: Small print. Concise. Clever. Second grade and above.

ARTWORK: Loved it.

PROS:
- Good story.
- Encourages empathy.
- Helps children learn about mythological Halloween creatures in a non-scary setting.

CONS:
- None.

BEST READ BY: You to your child the first time. This book should be talked about.

NOTE: I was not far into this book before I realized that this tale was less about monsters than about modern-day race relations. (Or was it? Given the current political climate, the lens through which I viewed this book may not be what the author intended. But it is nevertheless how I viewed this book.) In my mind, this book quickly became not about a clown moving into a neighborhood of monsters but about an African-American moving into a white neighborhood. The fear. The gossip. The instant ostracism. The neighborhood meetings. The horror that this clown would be living on their block. (“There goes the neighborhood!” “Before you know it there will be more!”) My heart just sank; it was painful to read.

On the plus side, everyone does come around, including the ringleader. When the next new non-monster neighbor arrives, he is ready to greet them with kindness.

On the minus side, everyone comes around because Clown puts in extraordinary effort to win them over. He's friendly. He's helpful. He goes around to every home. He leaves presents when doors won't be open to him. In short, he does far more to win over his leery neighbors than anyone should ever have to.

BOTTOM LINE: Good as a Halloween tale. Great as a tale on not being a closed-minded jerk.

(This book was acquired through my daughter's Amazon account and shared through the "share with family" feature.)

50 people found this helpful

Helpful

Art is good but not impressed with plot or writing

Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2020

Verified Purchase

Art is okay and the theme is okay once you get to the end but it is a bit cringeworthy reminding me of racist neighbors as a kid talking about anyone who wasn't white. The clown moving to the neighborhood and turning out to be cool seems really hamfisted as a plot and the execution was meh. I bet the story would have been better swapping out the unicorn for the clown.

I am probably being a bit harsh but I have read soooooo many children's books to my boy that I can say this is not the worst by any means but about average thus the 3 stars.

16 people found this helpful

Helpful

CYCOLOGISTTop Contributor: Cycling

Why so small?!

Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2020

Verified Purchase

Loved the graphics, very colorful but WHY can't I enlarge the pages, AT ALL?! I even tried to change the orientation so I could read it on my tablet in landscape mode. Nope! It's not an option. It's disappointing to have to read the pages at 1.25" x 1.75" max size! I read that this was a problem in the reviews, but I discounted its significance, thinking they just didn't know how to enlarge the pages. Huh. Nope. It's a defect in the setup that you can't enlarge, zoom, or change orientation. I'm hopeful that with all of these poor reviews, they'll allow us an updated upload of the book. Even if it was a freebie "First read", it makes NO sense to offer something you can't read, because the text is too small.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Arroyo's Creek

Don't buy! Why?

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2020

Verified Purchase

I bought this to share with a first grader I help with remote learning. The double tap enlargement feature only worked for the book's cover. I've had postage stamps larger than this book's pages. If anyone answered the phone at Amazon, I'd ask for my money back.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Trippet

Lively, Fun, Chaotic

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2020

Verified Purchase

So many colors! Sure to capture a kiddo's attention. The story is a moral in accepting change and those who are perhaps different than your normal taste for friends, but it does it in a gentle way rather than preaching. It's a subtle, "sometimes different is good, give it a chance," message.

The pages are cluttered, which interrupts the flow of the story and I docked 1 star for that. When I'm reading a story to a child I want to hit each line one after another. I found myself trying to riddle out which line should be next in this book. The good news is the story line is unaffected if one line is read before another, for the most part.

The illustrations, though crammed together, are playful and quirky. Children are sure to enjoy the craziness swirling around. I had fun reading each monster's voice as written - the drawings give gobs of inspiration.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

In my opinion...

My boys loved this!

Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2020

Verified Purchase

The art work is bright, colorful and well done. The message is spot on and we loved the character choices.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Sara

Bright and brilliant!

Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2020

Verified Purchase

This is a wonderful story about how you can be so fooled by the wrong ideas that you miss out on the good stuff around you! The pictures are vivid and the story is entertaining. My five year old ate it up for bedtime tonight. She said she wants to read this one every night before Halloween comes. Thank you for such a great story, I'll really get to practice the voices while we count down to Halloween!

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Craig M Sisterson

Wonderful kids story with vivid, fun illustrations

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 7, 2020

Verified Purchase

This book hit all the buttons for Miss Five and me - a fun story, colourful and interesting illustrations, some cool characters. While we often prefer rhyming tales, this one still has plenty of zing even without rhyming. It's a cool story of a monster coping with an unexpected new neighbour. Some nice life lessons that don't hit you over the head too hard, are woven in quite naturally. The illustrations by Luke Flowers are excellent, full of colour and life, that really bring things to another level (and the page layout and design too). All around a great kids book.

Cristina M.

Very good!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 8, 2020

Verified Purchase

My 5 year old son absolutely loves this book and keeps asking me to read it at bedtime. The only reason I'm giving it 4 stars is because it's a difficult read for an adult with a lot of things happening in each page. This is probably down to personal preference and I prefer a "cleaner" text where I don't have to jump from one line to the other so much. But overall a fun book with a lovely message :)

One person found this helpful

Shani

So colourful and fun.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2020

Verified Purchase

Such a lovely colourful and fun book.

Nice to read children/ class tho get them thinking about making new friends at school or in their neighbourhood along with change and people being different. Especially when they may have had a long time away from other outside children (covid).

Nice for children to read to themselves and spot all of the fun little pictures and changes e.g. how the vampire house actually looks like a vampire and when Clown redecorates it 、it looks like a clown etc.

One person found this helpful

ceecee

Fun with a good message

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 27, 2020

Verified Purchase

Amazon Prime First Read - September

One of the things I most miss during the pandemic is browsing in bookshops and looking for colourful stories for the children in my life, hence why I chose this! This is a really good story with a clear message which is presented in a colourful way and is easy to understand. The illustrations are excellent and I’m sure young children will really appreciate them as they are a lot of fun. The ending is really good and makes you smile.

Davide V.

Recommended!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 18, 2020

Verified Purchase

Nice story with detailed, pleasant drawings and a heart-warming message... I have the e-book but I'm considering buying the paper version so the kids can enjoy the little details sprinkler everywhere... Recommended!

See all reviews