Having trouble with your backpack zipper? Maybe there's a monster inside! Annie warms up to the exasperating but lovable creature she finds in her backpack in this humorous story complemented by energetic illustrations. When Annie unzips her new flowered backpack and finds a monster inside, it's hard to say who is more shocked. "AAAAHHHH!" yells the monster. "EEEEEEKKKK!" yells Annie. It's a predicament, to be sure, as the monster proceeds to gobble Annie's sandwich, stick gum in her boot, and tear up her homework to use as confetti for an "Annie-is-great" parade in the middle of class. With a perfectly tuned sense of comic timing, Lisa Moser captures a young girl's transition from annoyance to affection as a funky and disarmingly open-hearted monster makes an untimely appearance. Noah Jones's colorful and expressive illustrations bring these two charming characters brilliantly to life.

LISA MOSER received a degree in early education with a concentration in reading from the University of Iowa. She taught fifth grade and got the idea for THE MONSTER IN THE BACKPACK— her first book — seven years ago from one of her students, who couldn’t open the zipper on her backpack. " ‘There must be a monster in there,’ I told the girl, and then I began to think, ‘What if there really was?’ "

NOAH Z. JONES is the illustrator of NOT NORMAN: A GOLDFISH STORY by Kelly Bennett, his first children's book. Of THE MONSTER IN THE BACKPACK, he says, "I laughed out loud when I first read Lisa's story. I couldn’t wait to start drawing. It was especially fun to create a monster who wasn't scary or mean but caused mischief unintentionally and with such gleeful abandon."

Annie's new backpack came with pink and blue flowers.
Annie's new backpack came with a zipper.
Annie's new backpack came with a monster.

Annie unzipped the backpack and peeked inside.
"AAAAHHH!" yelled the monster.

"EEEEEEKKKK!" yelled Annie.
Annie dropped the backpack and jumped across the sidewalk.

She waited one, two, three minutes.

Slowly, slowly she tiptoed across the sidewalk and peeked inside again.

"AAAAAHHHH!" yelled the monster.

"Do you ever whisper?" asked Annie.

"Do you ever knock?" asked the monster.

"How can I knock on a backpack?"

The monster scratched his head. "You're right," he said. "Next time, ring the doorbell."

"What are you doing in my backpack?" Annie asked.

"Eating a snack," said the monster, licking peanut butter off his paws.

"That's not a snack," said Annie. "That's my sandwich!" She reached into the backpack and pulled out some brown squishy things.

"I saved the crusts for you," said the monster.

"Yuck," said Annie. "What else did you save for me?"

"I'll see," said the monster. He dove into the backpack. He threw out an empty juice box, potato-chip crumbs, and a banana peel.

Finally, he popped up with a little bag in his paw. "I don't like carrots," said the Monster. "They make me burp."

Annie zipped the monster into the backpack. "I definitely don't need a
burping monster."

_______

THE MONSTER IN THE BACKPACK by Lisa Moser. Text copyright © 2006 by Lisa Moser. Published by Candlewick Press, Inc., Cambridge, MA.