What’s under the Bed is a book by Joe Fenton dealing with the contemporary fears of children at night. Fred is a reluctant sleeper who prefers playing with his teddy bear to putting his head to the pillow. Once he's under the covers, his imagination runs wild and he frets, "Could there be something under my bed?" Fred cannot stop worrying about creatures that might be lurking beneath it. As Fred's worries take shape, he questions all the different features it may have as well as the sounds it could possibly be making. Finally summoning his inner strength, the youngster finally looks under the bed, finding that it’s just his beloved teddy bear. His relief is short-lived however as he continues to speculate, "What's that noise? What's that sound? Is there something on the ground?" This is quiet a nice book for children, however it won’t do their fears of hidden monsters any favours. For those brave enough to be carefree about the monsters, the illustrations and the limited use of colours to emphasise the horror lurking under the bed, are especially magnificent in detail. While I couldn’t guarantee this book would be every child’s cup of tea, for most children, the real life experiences of their own fears which they may even have dealt with in the past, make this book most intriguing. This book because of the horror involved can suit children ranging from four to nine and probably isn’t the best book to encourage reading alone. Despite this, What’s under the Bed is an enjoyable book. I love the illustrations of Fred. The monster, well, are we trying to help a child get over its fears in this book or not? Because this wouldn't have helped me as a young'un. And the ending is a little confusing--I'm assuming it's the one in the bed saying the last line. If I had a preschool group with absolutely no bedtime or monster fears, this could be fun to read aloud. Otherwise, I guess more for older kids if they didn't feel the book was too young.
What do You think about What's Under The Bed? (2008)?
Simple monster-under-the-bed story with a kind of happy ending. ;)
—ranae87
