There's A Nightmare in My Closet

        There’s A Nightmare In My Closet by Mercer Mayer

Illustrator: Mercer Mayer

Publication: Pied Piper Book

Date of Publication: 1968

ISBN #: 0803785747

Pages: 32

Themes: Fear, Bedtime, Growing Up

Format: Print, Picture Book, Fiction

Age: 3-5

What seems like a potentially scary story for toddlers, a boy decides once and for all he will confront the nightmare that is hiding in his closet to be not as frightening as he imagined.

A classic by anyone who enjoys children’s literature, Mercer Mayer is a master at telling stories for kids. Although he has written many nightmare and monster stories, There’s a Nightmare in My Closet puts all those stories to shame. A young boy is getting ready for bed and decides this particular evening he is going to catch the so called nightmare and shoot him. But he discovers the nightmare isn’t so scary after all, he’s actually pretty harmless who has a nightmare of his own.

This story takes place in setting in the bedroom of a little boy who is frightened there is a monster, his nightmare in fact living in his closet. He is determined to find this creature and shoot him with his toy gun but ends up hurting the nightmare and making him cry. Learning this nightmare isn’t a terror after all, he lets him snuggle in his bed but learns that his nightmare has a nightmare of his own that is also hiding in the closet.

The theme presented in this story is an excellent one for kids to learn and understand. Many children grow up thinking there are monsters under their bed, in their closet or in other areas of the bedroom at night when it’s time to go to bed. It’s an excellent story that teaches how to overcome fears, no matter what they may be. Again, a great book for pleasure but a story that teaches an important and invaluable lesson we all need in our lives. This would make for a good example in story time that focuses on overcoming fears or battling against monsters or nightmares.

I grew up reading a lot of Mercer Mayer books, the other nightmare books, There’s An Alligator Under My Bed and of course The Little Critter books. I remember when we got our first computer, we had a story time reader game that feature a lot of Little Critters and Little Monster stories. Mercer Mayer is what started my love affair with reading children’s literature. 

(images via google)