I began illustrating books in 1966. Since that time I have published over 300 books. Most of my books are about things that happened to me when I was a little kid. Now I'm a big kid and I write about things that happen now, especially with my own children. They always remind me of what it was like.
I was born in Arkansas in 1943. Boy, that was a long time ago! It's real fun to be an old kid. Then my parents moved to Hawaii when I was thirteen years old. After High School, I went to Honolulu Academy of Arts. Then I moved to New York City. My wife, Gina, and I write the Little Critter stories together.
This was my favorite book as a child. I can remember my babysitter refusing to re-read it multiple times a night. Its a very fun story with lovely illustrations. The story is about a letter being sent from one friend to another and the letter's journey while, stamp collecting monsters, paper eating monsters, and monster eating monsters all get in the way. The book was out of print for several decades so I'm glad to see it is once again in print.
This may have been the most intriguing book of my childhood and I would love to get my hands on a copy now that I'm all growed-up. I suspect that I only saw half of the things in each picture; we'd pore over every page for minutes on end, encouraging each other to find what we saw and we did this with alarming regularity. Yet, I'm willing to wager that I won't recognize even half the hidden treasures in each illustration. Also, I still worry about the safety of my letters once they leave the post office.
Sally Ann puts a letter to her best friend Lucy Jane in the mailbox, but a Stamp-Collecting Trollusk steals it before the mailman can pick it up. The story then follows the letter as it is snapped up by a Letter-Eating Bombanat, grabbed by a Bombanat-Munching Grumley, sucked up by a Wild-'n'Windy Typhoonigator, etc., etc. A great one for reading aloud with fun word choices including many author-created words. I also enjoyed Mayer's fun detailed illustrations.
I absolutely LOVE this book, it is everything I would ever want a childrens story to be... It has amazing artwork, a crazy story, made up words, and of course wonderful dry wit "nothing ever happens around here."
Everyone with children and even those without should read this book!!!!
I’ve had this cute little book on my TBR for a long time after seeing it recommended by someone on Tim Ferriss’ podcast. It seemed an odd thing for an adult to recommend a childrens book, and I honestly still don’t understand why, but I must admit that the author played with words in a way that was pretty cute and clever :) Not one where I’m like “I must save this to read to my children one day” though.
Strange and silly circular tale filled with silly imaginary creatures. Sally Ann sends a letter to her friend, but before the letter is picked up by the mailman, a stamp-collecting creature steals the letter setting off a long journey of the letter.
Help! Please. I’m looking for a book much lustrated like this when I was a kid. It’s a book about monsters eating children. It was kind of morbid for its time, it I’m trying to find it. Please lease help. Around the 1970-1980’s
I don't usually include books that I read to my children on Goodreads, but this book is truly exceptional. The artwork is fabulous. My sons begged me to read it so many times that I still remember the story very well, even after nearly 40 years.
We have a very old copy of this at home because my husband was obsessed with this when he was a kid, and I can see why! They illustrations are so fun, as are the monster names. The kids keep asking to read it.
This delighted myself and my boys while in the waiting room at the doctor's office. I had no idea Mercer Mayer had books that weren't about the fluffy hamster things.
Absolutely loved the illustrations and the humour within the pictures. Story was fun. Breaking up reading with an occasional children's book is also fun.
I have vague memories of reading this story as a child, but was recently reminded by a friend. So I borrowed it from my local library for a re-read. A fun, funny little story.
This is my absolute favourite Childrens' book EVER! My copy has been read to the point that it is held together by tape. I began reading it to my son shortlhy after we brought him home from the hospital and now it's one of his favourites. Mercer Meyer creates fatastic, whimsical characters. The typhonigator is one of my personal favourites , but readers of this book won't soon forget the Paper munching Yalapapus, the Trolusk collecting Grithix or the Letter Eating Bombanat. The creatures are so determined that I almost want them to get the letter. The hard cover is worth the bajillion dollars it costs (it was over $60 last time I looked, but I'm a Canadian and we get ripped when it comes to book prices), but if you can't afford or find it buy the paperback and get ready for a great adventure for you and your favourite kid!
Another great imaginative monster book by Mercer Mayer, this one is a story about a girl who writes a letter to her friend. It gets intercepted by all sorts of monsters along the way. Another reviewer mentioned that it seems Mayer is channeling Seuss with all the crazy made-up words in this book and I'll have to agree with her. I like that he included a dodo in the background of a couple pages of the book, in addition to the Stamp Collecting Trollusk, Letter-Eating Bombanat, and the Wild-'n-Windy Typhoonigator. Recommended for kids aged 5+, 5 stars.
This one you have to be careful with. The pictures are kind of crazy, and that's what makes it so good. But I could see them sort of bothering the super imaginative kids out there. None of the monsters are actually mean, they just want to eat the paper or steal the stamp from the envelope... so really it's all in good fun. The pictures are AMAZING. If you run across a copy of this book- buy it, it's hard to find!
Morgan discoverd this on a recent visit to my Mom's. What memories! The stamp-collecting trollusk steals Sally Anne's letter and then ensues the hunt by other paper-eating, letter-munching monsters. Or monster-munching monsters like the wild-n-windy Typhoon-a-gator. Love it.
Too bad it's out of print and starts at $40 for a used paperback. Hard back in good shape are around $65!
My niece's family LOVES this children's book, so I picked it up and read it to myself. It was OK. Later I read it aloud to my mom. What a difference! It definitely needs to be shared! The pictures of all the monsters are great, but the names of the monsters are the best! Get this book and read it to a child.
This story follows a letter's fantastic journey as it is intercepted again and again by various monsters on its way to its destination. The monsters are reminiscent of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are and the story is funny and fantastic.
One of my favorite books as a child. Though at the time I was more interested in the fantastic illustrations of monsters than the story itself. But upon reading it again as an adult I can see why i loved this book so much when i was a kid.
This story is about a girl named Sally Ann who wrote a letter to her friend Lucy Jane, but it gets intercepted by a bunch of monsters a long the way. I love the illustrations. You'll have to read the book to find out what happens to Lucy Jane's letter.
Easily one of top 10 favorite books of all time. Great story, amazing illustrations...almost the perfect children's book. Reading my childhood copy of this to my nieces, with crayon scrawl courtesy of my little sister (now 37, yikes!), was amazing...and they love it as much as I did.
Before the Little Critter books, Mercer Mayer wrote and illustrated a few books that are absolutely beautiful. The pictures in this book are so detailed and so imaginative, that it's just a delight to read (especially with a little kid).
Well, there's the Trollusk and the Bombanat and the Typhoonigator to "like," among others. I asked the first graders if they thought the letter writer and the letter reader were monsters, too. "NO!" was there resounding response.
I still own my original copy of this, from when I was a kid. I intend to read it to my child, in the hope that it expands his vision of the world, like it did me. Love this book!!!