Marisol McDonald and the Monster / Marisol McDonald y el monstruo

Review
By Booklist

Fans of the Marisol McDonald series will welcome their imaginative friend in this latest addition. While studying the letter m, Marisol realizes that she knows very little about monsters—just that they are scary. When something goes bump in the night, Marisol is convinced a monster is to blame, in spite of her parents’ reassurances that monsters don’t exist. She takes matters into her own hands and makes a nice monster doll to live under her bed, instead of a scary one, because who better than Marisol McDonald to turn convention on its head? The nighttime bumps continue, and the family has a mystery to solve. This lively bilingual story is, in true Monica Brown style, both universal and culturally specific, highlighting an interracial, bicultural family and a common childhood fear. Palacios’ cheerful illustrations in crisp colors are deceptively simple and wonderfully detailed, helping kids see that things hiding in the dark don’t have to be so scary after all.