“Maybe I have a name, too, then!” the monster interrupted. “Does everyone have a name?”
“I think so,” said the boy.
“Where do they come from?”
“I got mine from my mother,” said the boy. “Except my father says it was his idea.”
“What about your sister?” asked the monster.
“Her first name came from my grandmother, and her middle name—”
The monster interrupted again. “Your sister’s middle has its own name?!” There was still so much he hadn’t learned yet. It was really astonishing.
The boy yawned. “Can we talk about this tomorrow?” he asked.
The monster yawned, too. “Okay,” he said.
13.
The monster meant it when he said “okay,” about not talking about names until the next day. But even though he said it and even though he meant it, the monster could not stop thinking about names. He lay there, listening to the boy’s gentle breathing. He relaxed his body. He relaxed his fur. He relaxed his antlers.
But he could not relax his mind.
Has that ever happened to you? It’s very frustrating, isn’t it?
To pass the time, the monster decided to make a list of names in his head. He started with A because, having recently learned the alphabet, it seemed like a good place to start.
A is for …
Right away, the monster ran into a problem. The problem was that he didn’t actually know very many names. He especially didn’t know twenty-six names, or anything that started with Q or X. (Those are always the trickiest ones in lists.)
Then the monster remembered something. He remembered how, when the boy said I have a name, he had pointed to a painting on the wall of his room.
The monster climbed out of the boy’s bed very carefully and quietly, and he shuffled on his foot pads until he could see the painting. It was a smallish rectangle in a wooden frame. It had five letters and each letter had a little picture next to it. There was a J and a jar of jelly. An A and an apple. An M and a monkey. An E and an egg. An S and a sock.
“Jelly Apple Monkey Egg Sock,” said the monster. “What a beautiful name.”
He sighed happily and shuffled back over to the bed. He climbed up and nestled himself next to the boy.
Maybe tomorrow, the monster thought, I’ll find my own beautiful name.
And he fell asleep that way, and dreamed of hedgehogs on roller skates.
14.
Oh no!
Granny Waffleton told me to never, ever end a book on an odd-numbered chapter!
Oh, dear. What else can I tell you?
Here are three things that you almost definitely didn’t know:
Your sneezes leave your face at one hundred miles per hour.
Some snails take naps that last for three years.
Genuphobia is the fear of knees. (It is also much, much, much easier to pronounce than Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. That is the fear of long words.)
Okay, that should take care of it. Now you can go have a snack.
But watch out for roller-skating hedgehogs! You know what monster dreams can do …
About the Author
Hannah Barnaby has worked as a children’s book editor, a bookseller, and a teacher of writing for children and young adults. Her first novel, Wonder Show, was a William C. Morris finalist. Hannah lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with her family.
Visit her online at hannahbarnaby.com, or sign up for email updates here.
About the Illustrator
I miss you, Granny Waffleton.
Anoosha Syed is a Pakistani Canadian illustrator based in Toronto. She has a passion for creating cute, charming characters with an emphasis on diversity and inclusion, and has illustrated many best-loved picture books.
Visit her online at anooshasyed.com, or sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter 1.
Chapter 2.
Chapter 3.
Chapter 4.
Chapter 5.
Chapter 6.
Chapter 7.
Chapter 8.
Chapter 9.
Chapter 10.
Chapter 11.
Chapter 12.
Chapter 13.
Chapter 14.
About the Author and Illustrator
Copyright
Henry Holt and Company, Publishers since 1866
Henry Holt® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC
120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271 • mackids.com
Text copyright © 2021 by Hannah Barnaby
Illustrations copyright © 2021 by Anoosha Syed
All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020910180
ISBN 978-1-250-21785-1
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact your local bookseller or the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945 ext. 5442 or by email at [email protected].
First edition, 2021
eISBN: 9781250217868
Monster's First Day of School Page 3
