Dec. 10 – Ferndale Library Hosts Monsters Rule! Zoom Program for Kids
Ferndale, MI – The Ferndale Library has arranged several interactive virtual programs for kids in the early wintertime, including an interactive “Draw-Your-Own Monster” Storytime with the founders of  Monsters Rule! Books. “We were excited to discover a small local business creating picture books for kids based pretty much in our own backyard,” said Jordan Wright, Ferndale Library’s Head of Youth Services. “So this exclusive Zoom event is going to be a fun and interactive means of introducing our young patrons to these new authors, while also giving them a chance to doodle from home.”
Monsters Rule! is a new children’s book series dreamed up by three friends and Michigan natives. It’s written by Kevin Singer and Joel Gullickson, with vibrant and colorful illustrations by Ferndale-based illustrator Brent Mosser. Monsters Rule! recently published their first book, “The Legend of Long Leg Larry,” optimal for ages 2-4, featuring an adventure for the scouts at “Monster Camp.”
On Wednesday, December 10, Gullickson and Singer will lead a storytime for kids over Zoom, leaving time at the end for some Q&A with parents; after the story, Mosser will present a “Draw Your Own Monster” demonstration for the young attendees. Kids are encouraged to have a pencil and paper ready at home while watching and, if they’d like to, share their monster sketches via Zoom.
Monsters Rule! stories, like “The Legend of Long Leg Larry,” are intended to help raise creative, compassionate, and funny kids, and instill a lifelong love of reading. “(Monsters Rule!) was born out of equal parts creative history and pandemic induced boredom,” said Gullickson. He and Singer have been friends since elementary school and have been making music together in the band Chronic Tan for five years. Gullickson said he’s always admired Mosser’s work, especially the monsters. “When Covid hit and we all suddenly had some time on our hands, I pitched Kevin on the idea of collaborating on some stories and submitting them for Brent’s approval. Lo and behold, we won him over, and Monsters Rule! was born!
“Our true goal — aside from just working on a fun and collaborative creative endeavor — has been to breathe new life into the lessons carried inside the stories we grew up on. The morals we all learned as kids from Seuss and Silverstein; Dahl and Sendak; Judith Kerr and Margaret Wise Brown. Everything they taught us about kindness, compassion, and bravery lives on in the pages of every Monsters Rule! book. We want to at once contribute to that incredible canon of children’s literature, and give the next generation their own stories to (hopefully) inspire them to be even more creative, compassionate, and funny than they already are.”
The Monsters Rule! Storytime and Kids Draw-Along starts via Zoom at 6:30 pm on December 10; parents can sign-up over email: jordan@ferndalepubliclibrary.org