The Case of the Garbage Monster from Outer Space

Having enjoyed several Hank the Cowdog stories over the years, I was pleased when my 4-year-old sister pulled The Garbage Monster from Outer Space off the bookshelf one afternoon, and asked that we have it as our next bedtime story. When I agreed, she immediately sat down and paged through the whole book, studying the pictures and getting a kick out of the story she deduced from them. After that, she couldn’t wait for us to read the book—she’d figured out the punchline from the pictures, and wanted to see how that worked out in the story—and although it took over a month for us to get through the book, I think it ended up being one of her more favorite bedtime stories recently.

This book follows the same sort of theme as all the show more other Hank the Cowdog books—Hank acts the part of a dunce; he gets into a pile of trouble, runs up against some terrible enemies (personally, I think the coyote brothers are hilarious!), and generally isn’t nearly as smart as he thinks he is.

I enjoyed this book. It was a fast, easy, fun read. I particularly like the way Erickson plays with the English language—just enough to add a little more humor to the story. If you’re looking for a good series to read aloud, I’d recommend this series, although I’m not sure how appropriate they are as bedtime stories for more sensitive children. For my sister, it was perfect—and she was quite disappointed on the nights when we didn’t have enough time to read another chapter! show less

reviewed - Nathaniel