Happy Monsters
Uncle Amon
Uncle Amon Books
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Copyright © 2015 Uncle Amon Books
All rights reserved. This book is a work of fiction. No part of this book or this book as a whole may be used, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or means without written permission from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Free Gift!
Argo Takes Flight
Gigi Makes a Friend
Sunny’s Great Idea
Halloween Celebrates!
There’s a Monster Under My Bed!
Funny Monster Jokes
Games and Puzzles
Game and Puzzle Solutions
More Books by Uncle Amon
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Argo Takes Flight
Argo the flying monster was not having a good day. “Maybe I should change my name to Argo the non-flying monster,” he thought glumly.
When Argo had first awakened in the morning, he was very excited. Just last night, Mommy and Daddy had announced to their little monsters that they were finally old enough to have their first flying lesson.
As soon as Argo and his brothers and sisters had gotten out of bed, their parents took them to Palm Tree Cliff, the safest place for baby flying monsters to learn to fly. Palm Tree Cliff was a low cliff right above the ocean. If you couldn’t fly the first time around, it was no big deal. You would just land in the water.
Out of all his siblings, Argo was the one who had dreamed about flying the most. In fact, he had nothing else on the brain ever since he had hatched from his monster egg. There was no doubt in Argo’s mind that he would be a wonderful flier.
But he was wrong.
Argo’s sister Margo took her turn first. She did just as Mommy and Daddy instructed, bouncing on her toes before reaching her wings into the air, flapping them with all her might, and jumping. Margo soared off the edge of the cliff, swooping gracefully and powerfully through the sky. She didn’t even fall into the water once!
“Margo, you’re a natural!” Daddy cried.
Argo’s other siblings were almost as good. And then it was Argo’s turn. He walked to the edge of the cliff, bounced on his toes, flapped his wings, and jumped. But somehow, Argo couldn’t gain the strength and power he needed. He plummeted straight down into the water!
“This can’t be!” thought Argo. “I’m supposed to be the best flier in my family!”
Mommy and Daddy encouraged him to try again and again. But every time Argo tried, the same thing happened. He kerplunked into the ocean. By the end of the afternoon, poor Argo hadn’t flown for even a second!
The next day, his brothers and sisters went back to the cliff to practice flying some more. Argo was too discouraged to go with them. He stayed at home and played with his monster toys.
The same thing happened the next day and the next and the next.
Finally, Mommy came to talk to Argo. “Honey, I know you’re unhappy about the way flying lessons went,” she said. “But the truth is, you’ll never fly unless you keep on trying.”
Argo thought about this. “I did try,” he insisted.
“Not hard enough,” replied Mommy.
“But what if my wings just don’t work?” asked Argo.
Mommy shrugged. “You’ll never know unless you try, now, will you?”
Argo knew she was right. The next day, he went to the cliff with his siblings. He tried to fly. Again and again and again. He just kept falling into the ocean.
But Margo and the others cheered him on. “Come on, Argo, you can do it!”
Day after day, Argo tried to fly. Often, he felt like giving up, but his family wouldn’t let him.
And then one afternoon, something wonderful happened. This time, when Argo jumped off the cliff, he felt a new energy under his wings. Stretching them just a bit more, Argo caught the air current and he flew!
“I did it!” cried Argo, circling triumphantly above the ocean.
“Hurray for Argo!” his family cheered from shore.
“Mommy was right!” Argo thought to himself. “You’ll never fly unless you try!”
Gigi Makes a Friend
“Wow, what a beautiful garden!” Gigi the garden monster exclaimed.
Gigi and her family had just arrived at their new home. The last garden they had lived in had become overgrown, so Mommy and Daddy had scouted out a better place to live. This new garden was in the front yard of a beautiful mansion that looked out over the sea. It was filled with tropical flowers, ripening fruits, and lush green plants. Because Gigi and her family were the color of bright spring-green leaves, they would blend right in.
Garden monsters enjoyed comfortable lives full of sunshine and playtime. There were only two main rules to follow:
1. Don’t eat too many fruits or flowers off the same bush or stalk at one time, because humans might notice.
2. Never talk to humans!
The second rule was especially important. Garden monsters were afraid that, if people found out about them, they would be chased out of their homes. Or even worse, what if the humans tried to hurt them in some way?
Gigi’s brothers and sisters didn’t seem to mind the second rule at all. But Gigi minded. Ever since she was just a monster hatchling, she had watched through a screen of grasses and leaves as people spent time in the many gardens where she had lived. Sometimes, the people worked in their gardens, weeding or watering or planting. Other times, they relaxed in the sunshine with a good book, or they played with their kids, or they tossed Frisbees to their dogs.
Gigi had always thought that the humans seemed nice, not at all like the type that would hurt a garden monster. Even so, Gigi obeyed the rule—that is, until her family moved to the garden by the sea.
On their second day there, Gigi saw a little girl skipping along the garden path. She had straight dark hair worn in a headband. She had high-top sneakers the color of the sea. And she had the kindest smile Gigi had ever seen.
Gigi couldn’t help herself. She darted onto the garden path herself.
The little girl stopped short. Then she gasped. “Are you…real?” she breathed.
“My name is Gigi!” the little monster replied. “I’m a friendly garden monster. Do you want to be my friend?”
Shocked, the little girl bent down to have a better look at Gigi. Slowly, she started to smile again. “You know,” she said, “you are pretty cute. Sure, I’d like to be your friend! My name is Carly.”
Gigi glowed with happiness. She and Carly spent the rest of the day playing in the garden.
But, when Gigi’s parents found out what had happened, they were very upset.
“You’ve put our whole family in danger!” cried Daddy. “Who knows what the humans will do to us now?”
“Carly’s super-nice,” insisted Gigi. “She won’t hurt anybody and she won’t tell anyone about us, either. Just wait till you meet her!”
The very
next day, Gigi introduced Carly to her family. At first, Gigi’s parents and siblings were terrified. But, when they saw how nice Carly was, they realized that perhaps Gigi was right. Perhaps they ought to give human beings a bit more of a chance.
As Gigi liked to say, “No matter how different we may look on the outside, we’re all alike on the inside—where it really counts!”
Just for Fun Activity
Draw a picture of Gigi’s seaside garden. Use as many colors as possible. You can even draw Gigi and her family, hidden amongst the plants!
Sunny’s Great Idea
“Oh, no!” moaned Sunny the sunshine monster. “Not another gloomy day!”
You see, sunshine monsters are visible only when the sun is shining. At night and during gloomy days, when the sun is hidden from sight, the monsters can’t be seen at all.
This makes it hard for them to go to monster school. No one can tell if a sunshine monster raises his or her claw to answer a question. Being invisible also makes it hard to play with friends. It makes games of hide-and-seek and tag very unfair. But most of all, it simply bothers the sunshine monsters. No one wants to be invisible!
“It’s springtime, Sunny,” Sunny’s brother Sol said glumly. “Get used to the rainy weather.”
Sol’s twin sister Soleil tried to be more cheerful. “Summer’s on its way,” she said. “We’ll have lots of sunshine then.”
“I don’t want to wait till summer!” Sunny declared, stamping her little orange foot. “I’m going to do something about this, and I’m going to do it now!”
Mommy laughed. “That’s my little problem-solver,” she said. “What’s your plan, Sunny?”
Sunny didn’t answer. A wonderful idea was slowly taking shape in her mind! Without saying a word, Sunny rushed off to her room, where she kept her arts and crafts supplies.
You see, Sunny was a very creative little monster. And she was going to use her artistic talents to make things better for her family.
She frowned when she passed her bedroom mirror and didn’t see her reflection, but she didn’t let that get her down. If her fantastic idea worked, she and her family wouldn’t have to worry about gloomy days anymore! She and Sol and Soleil could go to school and play with their friends, just like they did on sunny days. They would always have a reflection in the mirror, no matter what the weather was like! If only this worked.
Sunny worked nonstop for a whole long, rainy week. By the time she was finished, she sat back and smiled with satisfaction. Absolutely perfect!
“Mommy! Daddy! Sol! Soleil!” Sunny called. “Come up to my room!”
Because the sun still had not come out, Sunny could tell that her family had arrived only by their voices.
“Look what I made!” Sunny announced proudly.
Everyone gasped.
“Sunny!” Mommy finally exclaimed. “They’re beautiful!”
Sunny had made costumes for herself and each member of her family. She had painted and decorated masks and sewn suits to be worn over the whole body. Each costume looked as much like each member of the sunshine monster family as Sunny had been able to make it.
“Mine looks just like me!” declared Soleil.
“Let’s try them on!” Sol said.
Sunny and her family put their costumes on at once. They looked in the mirror.
“Well, I’ll be,” said Daddy. “We have reflections again!”
Sunny beamed as Mommy hugged her tight. Now that she had solved her family’s problem, none of them dreaded gloomy days the way they used to. If worse came to worst, all they had to do was put their costumes on!
Just for Fun Activity
Sunny used her special artistic talent to solve her family’s problem. Is there a problem you would like to help solve—maybe raising money for a good cause, helping people or animals in need, or doing something nice to help a friend or family member going through a hard time? Now, think about your own special talents. How can you use them to help solve the problem? Remember, every effort counts—big or small!
Halloween Celebrates!
Halloween was a green holiday monster with a large head and pointed ears. As you might have guessed, his favorite holiday was Halloween. In fact, the holiday itself was named after Halloween the monster. This meant that Halloween the monster was pretty old. But monsters live for thousands of years, so you really couldn’t tell he was a day over ten.
Halloween was always at his happiest during the fall. He loved the whole month of October because he got to sit back and enjoy the frenzy that he’d started—costumes and candy and parties and scary movies. He was always rather sad on the day after Halloween.
The month of November was the Thanksgiving monster’s time to shine. After Thanksgiving was over, the Christmas monster got to take center stage for a while. And so on and so forth.
None of the other monsters seemed to mind celebrating one another’s holidays. But Halloween had a hard time whenever he wasn’t the center of attention. It was difficult to be happy not being the star. Even so, Halloween kept his mouth shut and suffered quietly through the different holidays. In his head, though, he was busy counting down the days until October!
By the time Easter came around one year, however, Halloween had had it with waiting. Unable to control himself a moment longer, he scraped back his chair from the table where all the holiday monsters were eating their Easter dinner.
“That’s it!” he shrieked. “I am so tired of hearing about everyone else’s holidays. I want it to be my holiday already! I want everything to be all about me! I don’t know how the rest of you stand it.”
Leaving the other monsters in shock, Halloween left the room. He ran upstairs to his bedroom, which was filled with Halloween decorations. He flopped face-down on the bed and cried.
After a while, there was a soft knock on the door.
Halloween blew his pointy nose. Then he mumbled, “Come in.”
Eggbert the Easter monster and all the other holiday monsters entered the room.
“We wanted to make sure you were all right,” said Eggbert.
Halloween shook his head. “I’m so tired of waiting for Halloween,” he moaned. “It will never get here!”
Liberty the Fourth-of-July monster sat on the edge of Halloween’s bed. “It will be here sooner than you think,” she said. “But don’t rush things, Halloween.”
“There’s so much to enjoy in the meantime,” added Noel the Christmas monster.
“I don’t understand it,” sniffled Halloween. “How are the rest of you able to enjoy holidays that aren’t your own?”
“Because we’re friends,” said Gracias the Thanksgiving monster. “You know that, Halloween. Friends are a part of each other’s lives. It’s important to celebrate each other, not just ourselves.”
“That’s what love is all about,” chimed Cupid the Valentine’s Day monster. “If all you do is think about yourself and count down till Halloween arrives, your year will seem long and miserable.”
Halloween thought about what his friends were saying. He realized that he was being selfish. He also realized that he hadn’t been a very good friend lately.
“I’m sorry, you guys,” he said at last. “From now on, I promise to take your advice and enjoy every moment—no matter whose holiday it is!”
And do you know what? October 31st that year came faster than ever before!
There’s a Monster Under My Bed!
Fluff-Puff the friendly under-the-bed monster lived with his Mommy under a bed that belonged to a little boy named Steven. Now that Steven was getting older and was more sensitive to noises in his room, Mommy constantly reminded Fluff-Puff to be extra-quiet.
Although under-the-bed monsters are kind and harmless creatures, Mommy and Fluff-Puff didn’t want to give Steven the wrong idea. So they had no choice but to be as quiet as mice. Mommy was very good at that. Fluff-Puff, however, was a young, playful monster, and being absolutely silent didn’t come naturally to him.
Just as Mommy had predicted, it wasn’t long before Steven began taking notice of even the smallest noises that Fluff-Puff would make. One night, in fact, Steven awakened to the sound of a toy truck that Fluff-Puff had accidentally ridden into the bedpost.
“Fluff-Puff,” whispered Mommy, “how many times must I tell you not to do that?”
“I’m sorry!” Fluff-Puff whispered back. But it was too late.
Steven had already sat up straight on the mattress, wailing, “Mommy! Daddy! I think there’s a monster under my bed!”
“Oh, no!” hissed Mommy Monster. She quickly dragged Fluff-Puff into the closet, where they wouldn’t be seen.
Sure enough, Steven’s parents came in to comfort Steven. Steven’s dad even shined a flashlight under the bed.
“All clear!” he announced.
Steven settled down and went back to sleep.
But the very same thing kept happening all week. Fluff-Puff kept making accidental noises, and Steven kept waking up, sure that there was a monster beneath his bed. No matter how hard he tried, Fluff-Puff couldn’t seem to keep quiet, which forced him and Mommy Monster to hide in Steven’s closet night after night.
Then one night, something very unexpected happened. Steven’s parents had already left the room, and Fluff-Puff and Mommy had just returned to their dusty home beneath the bed. The two under-the-bed monsters thought that the night’s troubles were over. But they hadn’t counted on Steven.
The little boy, you see, was convinced that, no matter what his parents said, there was a monster under his bed. He took his own flashlight out of his nightstand drawer and aimed it beneath the bed.
Sure enough, Fluff-Puff and Mommy were caught in its bright beam!
Steven started to scream. So did Fluff-Puff!
But Mommy Monster cried, “Calm down!”
At the tone of her voice, Fluff-Puff and Steven obeyed at once. That gave Mommy a chance to assure Steven that under-the-bed monsters are really very friendly creatures!
By the time she was finished talking, Steven was smiling. “You’re both so cute and cuddly and fuzzy,” he said to Fluff-Puff and Mommy Monster. “Just like stuffed animals! Hey, that gives me an idea! Would you two like to snuggle in my bed with me at night? You can always go back under the bed in the morning.”