Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

Monster + mustache = "Huzzah!"--with a soupçon of cool. "Mo just got a mustache. / A BIG, BLACK, beautiful mustache." All the other monsters are impressed. Tutu says, "It's superific!" Nib says, "Dude! Awesome." Knot says, "I say! What a splendid mustache. Nicely trimmed!" Soon each of the monsters appears, be-mustached. Each hairy facial adornment is different. "Bob, Bill and Ben all got EXTRA-LONG and super-squiggly mustaches. They were on sale!" Mo expresses his dismay: "WHAAA?!" So Mo bids farewell to his happening mustache and decides to rock out a "LONG, LINED, lovely scarf." Every monster follows suit. Like Queen Victoria, "Mo is not amused." "WHY IS EVERYBODY COPYING ME?!" And all the monsters confess that they emulate him because they respect his taste and his style. "You're one hip, happening hombre!" Surprised, Mo suggests a fashion show. The monsters all show off their own styles…and Mo brings his rainbow afro! Author/illustrator Clanton's supersimple line-drawn monsters in pastel colors perfectly communicate the big emotions of Mo's tale. The half text/ half speech-bubble narrative will engage storytime audiences and lapsitters with a minimum of inflection on the reader's part. Requests for repeats are a certainty, and small ones will learn a lesson about individuality while enjoying this delightfully fun monster tale. Mo's mustache? Magnifique! (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Monster + mustache = "Huzzah!"--with a soupçon of cool. "Mo just got a mustache. / A BIG, BLACK, beautiful mustache." All the other monsters are impressed. Tutu says, "It's superific!" Nib says, "Dude! Awesome." Knot says, "I say! What a splendid mustache. Nicely trimmed!" Soon each of the monsters appears, be-mustached. Each hairy facial adornment is different. "Bob, Bill and Ben all got EXTRA-LONG and super-squiggly mustaches. They were on sale!" Mo expresses his dismay: "WHAAA?!" So Mo bids farewell to his happening mustache and decides to rock out a "LONG, LINED, lovely scarf." Every monster follows suit. Like Queen Victoria, "Mo is not amused." "WHY IS EVERYBODY COPYING ME?!" And all the monsters confess that they emulate him because they respect his taste and his style. "You're one hip, happening hombre!" Surprised, Mo suggests a fashion show. The monsters all show off their own styles…and Mo brings his rainbow afro! Author/illustrator Clanton's supersimple line-drawn monsters in pastel colors perfectly communicate the big emotions of Mo's tale. The half text/ half speech-bubble narrative will engage storytime audiences and lapsitters with a minimum of inflection on the reader's part. Requests for repeats are a certainty, and small ones will learn a lesson about individuality while enjoying this delightfully fun monster tale. Mo's mustache? Magnifique! (Picture book. 3-6)

Horn Book (Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2014)

Mo is delighted with his new mustache. But then all the other monsters get one, too. Mo trades it in for a scarf, and, of course, everyone follows suit. Mo soon understands that copycatting is truly a form of flattery ("Dude! You're one hip, happening hombre!"). Goofy watercolor and ink illustrations add appeal to this story that's overly dependent on its hip, happening language.

School Library Journal (Tue Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2013)

PreS-Gr 2 The title page states that the artwork in this book was "rendered in watercolor and ink using a mustache as a brush." Based on Clanton's zany characters, this is no doubt true. Hero Mo looks like an upside-down yellow sock with antelope horns and a starred tail. He is an unwilling trendsetter. When he dons a huge black mustache, every creature around exclaims approval, then acquires a mustache of its own. When imitation again ensues after Mo's scarf innovation, he loses his temper. The other monsters explain that it's all done out of admiration for his sense of style. Wise Mo replies, "I think you're stylish too," and organizes a fashion show where each creature struts its own creative stuff with hats, socks, a tutu, or, in invisible Imp's case, nudity. Of course, Mo is the star with his scarf, mustache, and rainbow Afro (vintage 1970). Huzzah! Laugh-aloud funny, Clanton's story also offers a way to begin discussing individuality or peer pressure. Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA