There's Something in My Attic

by Mercer Mayer

Convinced there is something making noise in the attic at night, a brave little girl sneaks up the stairs, lasso in hand, to capture whatever it is.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Monsters, Fiction, Fantasy, Classics, Family

32 pages, Library Binding

First published March 30, 1988

About the author

Mercer Mayer is an American children's author and illustrator. He has published over 300 books, using a wide range of illustrative styles. Mayer is best known for his Little Critter and Little Monster series of books.

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE this story. It's a girl protagonist and she is sassy and brave and amazing. I wish I had read this as a child and seen how brave girls can be. There wasn't a whole lot of that back then. To bad I didn't read this.

A girl is going to sleep and she hears a monster in the attic above her. Her parents say it's mice, but she's too smart, so she gets a lasso and heads up to the attic to drag to her parents room for them to see. She is bad ass. I love her.

The monster is big and scary looking, but you can also see that it's afraid of the girl. I love that. It's frightened of her. What a great little piece of the story. I love Mercer!

I think all kinds will enjoy this and I want to read it to the kids.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 2 year old daughter's obsession with monsters is fueled by this cute book.

[Loraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mercer Mayer's humorous story dealing with nightmares is a delightful way to help young children deal with their nightmares. His accompanying illustrations are perfect for the story.

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute story about a little girl who is tired of her toys disappearing, so she faces her fears in order to get them back from the monster in the attic. This is a good book to read for fun.

[Diego · Rating 4 out of 5]

\Read it and take an ar queson Theres Something in My Attic

[Cana · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's not scary. I like the little night mare. He's cute.

My brother Finny says, when it's time to return this book to the library, "Mommy, don't send that away. I love it so much."

[Samantha Brumbaugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: A little girl with a lasso bravely prepares to confront the scary nightmare living in her attic
Genre: Fictional Picture Book
Reading Level: Early Transitional, This book is early transitional because on most pages it only has one sentence per page. The font is medium sized but does change postilions on each page. The book has a lot of high frequency and easy words.
Topic:facing fears, using your imagination
Curriculum Uses:This book would be a great independent reading book.
Social Issues:This book deals with the common fears that children have.
Literary Elements: This book uses imagery by saying she walked quietly and softly up the stairs. this books also uses foreshadowing in the beginning of the book, by setting up the scary attic.
Illustrations & Text. This book has very large and colorful illustrations. The text in the beginning of the book discusses how scary the house was and the illustrations help to show the scary house very well. The illustrations help with the intensity of the text.

[Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

When a little girl can't sleep at night due to something she hears in the attic, she decides to do a little exploring. This little girl isn't afraid of anything. She comes face to face with her nightmare, and realizes that this monster has gotten away with her new teddy bear. I absolutely love the illustrations in this book!

[Jayetta Carter-mcfarlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book could be used across all elementary grade levels. This is a good book to have a read-aloud experience about how to overcome fears or nightmares. It could be used to help children stretch their imaginations to write their own short stories. The book can also be used to introduce the concept of overcoming their own fears and abstract-thinking.

[Laura Carby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to read to children because they can connect to it. Some of them may have nightmares and not sleep well at night because they are scared something might get them. This book reassures children that everything is ok when you are asleep at night and that nightmares can be forgotten.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book from my childhood that my mother was getting rid of; so I grabbed it and absorbed it into my own library. :D

Kid thinks that there is something in the attic, then discovers that it is more afraid of her than she is of it.

[Caitlin Sabers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the strong female character who isn't afraid to go after a monster. With her lasso, she sets out to catch him. This story is great to talk about confidence, character traits, illustrations, and bravery.

[Natalie Hoist · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really cute book, and would be great as a bed time story! It is really easy for kids to relate to and entertaining as well. I enjoyed reading this book, and Mercer Mayer does a great job of portraying how kids may feel when it comes to nightmares. I highly recommend this book.

[Ashlin Edmisten · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books from my childhood. Mercer Mayer has a knack for giving kids the power to overcome nightmares wherever they may be. As always, the kids personalities are palpable. Definitely try this out if you know kids who get scared at bedtime.

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book about scary places that children will love.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

My kid always acts more scared of monsters after we read this book with him. The illustrations are great, so I bumped it up to two stars.

[Julia Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book “There’s Something in My Attic” is about a little girl whose family moved from the city to a farm. She wasn’t afraid of anything when they were living in the city but now that they are living on a farm she has some fears. One night while she was trying to sleep she heard a noise coming from the attic. She told her dad and he said it was just the mice but she knew it was something bigger. She decided to muster up the courage and bravery to see what was in the attic. She climbed up the stairs and only saw some toys on the ground and didn’t find the nightmare she was looking for. She then heard something coming up the attic stairs. There it was, her nightmare, this big monster, holding onto her new teddy bear that was in her room. She grabs her lasso and tries to capture the nightmare. She got a hold of it and goes to show her parents. They step out of the room to see the nightmare but it had already escaped. The little girl accepts that it escaped and says she will get it and her bear back tomorrow.

The overall theme of this book is conquering your fears, not getting upset when things don’t work out, and bravery. The little girl knows there's something in the attic and she is afraid but she’s not going to let her fear stop her from capturing the nightmare. She shows bravery when she goes into the attic by herself to see what the noise is and when the nightmare escapes the lasso before her parents see, she accepted it and told herself she was going to try again tomorrow.

I really enjoyed this book because it kept me engaged with the story because as a reader you also really want to know what is making the noise in the attic. I also related to this book because I remember when I was a kid, I also heard many things in the attic. I was very interested while reading this book and it made me wonder and get excited for what was coming next.

I would definitely recommend this book for children because it shows that everyone has fears and the only way to get over them is conquer them. It also shows kids that bravery is really important and each and every one of them is capable of facing their fears and doing things on their own. It also teaches them not to get mad over the little things because there’s always an opportunity to try again tomorrow.

[Luisa Knight · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a story where a 'nightmare' is personified and the little girl learns courage. It's kind of like the precursor to the movie Monsters Inc.

Ages: 4 - 8

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[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mercer Mayer was another favorite author of my childhood. I have a huge collection of books by this author, and still enjoy every one of them today. There's Something in My Attic is a cute story about a little girl, who's ears are newly exposed to the sounds of a quiet night. The brave little girl gathers all her courage to stop the 'nightmare' causing all the ruckus and prove to her parents one and for all that there is something in the attic. I love this book because as a child, I was a strong believer in monsters under the bed, in the closet, an in the attic. These stories eased my mind and helped me to become a little more brave myself.

[Marcos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book was of the same author of There's An Allegator Under My Bed because it has the same pictures and the words really book and I don't know who the author but it could be the same author. The book is about a girl who tries to get a nightmare out of her attic and the nightmare steals her toys that she thought she would never find again and her mom never believed her because she thought it was just wind and the girl caught the nightmare but the nightmare escaped and then she just said "oh well, I guess I have to catch it tomorrow."

[Jennesy · Rating 5 out of 5]

THis is one of my favorites. I love the suspense and the story line. I like the fact that the "monster" is carrying her teddy bear and seems to be harmless. She trys to convince her parents that this "monster" is real, but he gets away at the last second and hides back in the attic. I hope she eventually gets her teddy bear back!

[Allie Redmon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book, the illustrations are amazing in it. I love how the pictures tell the stories and give such detail just like a book that would have words. I would use this book for kids who are in grades 1st through 3rd. The reason I picked these is because that I feel the kids need to be older to understand and follow the story

[Sherry Thornberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

The monster in this little girls attic was as scared of her as she was of it. I like the way this book shows another perspective of "the monster in the attic". I also liked that the little girl was brave enough to face the unknown that terrified her and see it for what it really was making her less afraid.

[Jemma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really wonderful. As a kid, I had a lot of nightmares about monsters is the attic, so it really resonated with me. It helps that the main character is a little girl named Jessie! The pictures are bright and fun. The story is about a little girl going to face the moster in her attic that is keeping her up at night!

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love when Ellie pulls out a book we haven't read in a while but one that brings such memories of when they were younger cuddled on our laps. We often sat cuddled together pouring over Mercer Mayer books when she was younger. His illustrations are spot on for the stories he writes..krb 12/19/16

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young girl is convinced there is a nightmare in her attic, and she's out to capture it to prove to her parents that it exists. Armed with her lasso, and a flashlight she spots him and the chase is afoot. But she soon discovers that nightmares are tricky.

[Kaethe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book for a child who is nervous about sleeping through the night alone.

[Angie Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another favorite! And I love the determination of the little girl as she lassos the nightmare. Hilarious!

[Amara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book, but I don't love the illustrations, and the ending isn't really an ending. You'd think there'd be some kind of conclusion about conquering your fears or becoming friends with an enemy.

[Courtney Hartwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: A family recently moved from the city to a house on a farm. The daughter gets scared at night because it's dark and she can hear all the different noises. She calls the noises “a nightmare in the attic”. She gets her parents and they say it is just mice, but the little girl doesn’t agree. She decided to go up to the attic and use a lasso to get the nightmare and bring it to her parents to show them. She finds the nightmare who takes her bear and runs downstairs. The little girl catches the nightmare and brings it to her parent’s room. When she tries to show her parents, the nightmare has disappeared.

Theme: courage, bravery, defying gender stereotypes

Personal response to the text: As a child, I suffered from night terrors. While I don’t remember them specifically, my parents have told me that they affected my sleep and their sleep. It is so common for young children to be scared while they are sleeping alone. Not all children, including myself, would have the courage to adventure into the attic. But, we can all still relate to her character in the sense that nightmares are scary at a young age.

Why I recommend this book: One reason this book stood out to me was the fact that the main character was a female. Typically, males are portrayed in children’s books to be brave and courageous. Whether it was intentional or not, There’s Something In My Attic depicts a girl who is fearless when going up to her attic. I think this is great for young students to read about. In addition, it shows (in a symbolic way) that kids can be brave when it comes to their nightmares and try to conquer them instead of letting it affect their sleep.