Where Monsters Go When You Grow Up Giveaway (TWO WINNERS!)

As an (aspiring) English teacher, I recognize the importance of reading to a child's development. And not just reading alone - reading together with adults is not only a great way for the adults to model good reading skills, it's also a wonderful way for children and family to bond.

Enter Where Monsters Go When You Grow Up! This book, written and illustrated by a father of two from Austin, TX, is designed specifically for adults and children to read together.

The story centers on a little girl,

the monsters in her closet,

and Daddy, who always comes in to save the night ("because everybody knows monsters are afraid of parents!").

Where Monsters Go When You Grow Up is not only a loving look at a parent who addresses his child's fears in a kind and humorous way, it is also a story of life and growing up: What does happen to those monsters in the closet when a child stops believing in them? What happens to Daddy when his little girl doesn't need him to save her from the big, bad monsters anymore?

I'm not going to lie; I tear up just a little every time I read this book, and I don't even have children yet. But, as Reading Rainbow said, don't take my word for it - here are some of the reviews from amazon.com:

As long as kids continue to have imaginations, monsters will always be with us. But just because we might know they're creatures of the imagination, does not mean that we should ignore the fears of our children who "know" they're real. This book shares one father's very loving way of dealing with those "pesky" monsters, while at the same time validating his child's beliefs and fears.

My wife and I just finished reading this children's book and intend to read it to our little grandchildren. In a very tender and sensitive way, Mr. Dorchak has handled children's irrational but very real fears of "monsters in the closet." Through this wonderfully crafted story, we see a parent not ridicule his child's irrational fears, but lovingly meet the child at her own level of understanding and deliver her safely from "the monsters." For every parent with a child who fears those "monsters" in the dark, this book offers a solution because everybody knows monsters are afraid of parents.

Where Monsters Go is a really cool book. It's great to see a children's book that is done specifically for parents to read to and with their kids! This is a fun, touching story with really cute drawings. The words chosen and ideas presented encourage conversations between parents and their kids. I especially loved the fact that it allows the parent to be the hero in their child's world - that is priceless.

The Giveaway

Greg is giving away two autographed copies of Where Monsters Go When You Grow Up to one of my readers! I just know you're going to love it, so I've included lots of options for you to earn entries! Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below, and remember that you can tweet twice per day (there are two different sets of text) for bonus entries!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

50 Shades of Aaargh

I try so very hard not to judge a book without at least attempting to read it - which is why I've never trash-talked Twilight, although I will happily mock the movies I have seen, and this kind of bit me in the behind with 50 Shades of Grey. 

I'd been hearing a lot about it, from both ends of the spectrum: people (hilariously) trashing the novel online, and people declaring it the best piece of erotic fiction ever. Although I had an instinctive dislike of 50 Shades of Grey, I reserved judgment...until I saw a librarian writing about how nice it was that any book was getting his teenagers to spend more time reading. 

At that point, I couldn't resist the urge to examine 50 Shades more closely, so I ponied up for an ereader copy. The housemates fortunately joined me in what turned out to be an incredibly painful experience, and we spent the next five nights taking turns reading out loud and doing voices for all the characters.

Result: I have many, many problems with 50 Shades of Grey. The most superficial complaint is that the writing is shoddy. This book could have benefited greatly from a few good editors, particularly ones willing to point out that no one cares very much about the main character's "inner goddess." 

My other complains are much more bothersome, at least to me personally:

1. The relationship between Anastasia and Christian Grey is borderline abusive, yet never really identified as such.
2. People who choose to practice BDSM, either as a lifestyle or just in the bedroom, are portrayed as suffering from deep-seated personal issues.
3. I'm completely certain this writer has never, ever, done any of the sexual things mentioned in the book. There just isn't very much "erotic" in this fiction.

Of course, I feel that I should also give some space to people who don't hate the book quite as much as I do (which still making great points), such as the Bitch Magazine article Thinking Kink: Safewords:

Whatever else 50 Shades of Grey may have got wrong—and I know many of you feel that it got A LOT wrong!—the book does at least acknowledge the existence of safewords. Unlike other media representations of kink that I've already discussed here, 50 Shades reminds readers that in BDSM, “the Dominant may make demands of the Submissive that cannot be met without...harm” and therefore “the Submissive may make use of a Safeword.” The infamous contract that Christian Grey presents to Anastasia Steele also helpfully details the difference between "yellow" and "red" as safewords (the former tells the dominant the sub is close to their limits, the latter is a call for the dom to stop everything