Book Review: The Monster That Ate My Socks

Book Description:

A young boy, who is about to be grounded for going through so many socks, discovers that a monster has been eating them.

Max is a young boy who is constantly getting in trouble for his socks disappearing. He doesn’t know where they go, but he does know that if he doesn’t do something quickly his mom will ground him for summer. Max soon discovers that a little green monster is sneaking into his room at night and eating his sweaty socks. His mother, of course, doesn’t believe him, so Max calls on his best friend to come for a sleepover to catch the monster.

They devise a trap and capture the monster only to learn that the creature can speak. It hasn’t meant to cause any harm, it’s just trying to feed its family. The monster shows them his home and his three little children and begs the boys not to turn them over to the adults. Adults, he says, want to destroy monsters.

The boys are left in a pickle. Allow the monsters to be and get grounded, or turn the monsters in,​ knowing what will happen to them? Neither idea seems good, so they come up with a new plan!

My Thoughts:

This is the kind of story that touches your heart in a very unexpected way. The story starts out with a typical problem many of us have faced at one point or another in our lives; socks that seem to disappear from the laundry.

Max, an inquisitive young boy, sees a tiny piece of torn clothing on the floor and investigates the problem. Max and his friend Ryan create a trap that catches the green monster with three eyes. This all seems par for the course for two young boys. I could see my own son trying to devise a trap like this a few years from now to investigate mysterious problems.

Spoiler Alert:

What I liked most about this book though was how kind and compassionate the boys were once they caught the monster. After finding out that the monster had children of its own the boys asked to see them. After greeting the babies the boys realize they need to come up with a long term food solution that doesn’t involve their dirty socks.

The monsters discover that they love eating bad homework just as much as socks so the boys devise a plan to take them to their school where they can dig in the trashcans every night to look for papers with bad grades.

I love how the two boys who originally want to capture the monster and possibly harm him end up finding them a better home where the entire monster family can be fed and happy.

At the basic level this is a story about two boys and a monster, but if you dig a little deeper you’ll find it’s also a feel good story about understanding the problems of those around us and finding solutions that can help us work together.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book for free, but the opinions I have expressed are my own.