Wednesday's for Kids XXIV -- NIGHTMARES

Mercer Mayer, the mind and pen and brush behind the popular Little Critter series, wrote my son's once-favorite book, There's a Nightmare in My Closet.  Once-favorite I say, because he has since discovered Spiderman and Ironman.  Forget comparisons to Where the Wild Things Are; this book is its own (despite a similarity in artistic sensibility) and, unlike Wild Things (meaning no disrespect, as I believe it a true masterpiece), quite accessible for children, even helpful, as it softens rather than explores the nightly shadows, and for it is more similar to Monsters Inc., if anything.

While my son has moved on in his literary interests from Mayer, he has not, thankfully, cast aside stories and songs and humor about monsters.  I've mentioned Bill Harley before (if you don't know the guy, imagine what would happen if Bill Cosby and Raffi got together and spawned a lyric offspring), whom my family got to see "in concert" (and for free!).  Perfectly bolstered Harley's canny balance of dirty-kid humor and morality/cautionary tales, songs and stories, absurd and thoughtful is his song "Monsters in the Bathroom," which both my kids love, and surely gains some inspiration not only from Harley's childhood but also, likely, from Mercer Mayer's monsters.

(for Bill Harley's "Monsters in the Bathroom," try Grooveshark)

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