The wanting monster

This fable from an Australian duo starts slow, as the Wanting Monster, portrayed with a furry white body and a long tail, works hard to raise trouble. The story's screws tighten as the monster whines and moans into the ear of napping Mr. Banks, its words visualized as a winding stream of smoke. Instantly, Mr. Banks wants "something else, something more," and he diverts the village's stream to make himself a pool, creating envy among his neighbors, who build pools of their own and dry up the stream. Folk art--like forms and stripped-down landscapes distinguish painterly spreads by Read, making her U.S. debut, while dark backdrops contribute a note of ominousness. Little by little, the endless wanting breathed into the villagers results in overuse of the resources they need and take delight in--the water, the flowers, even the stars in the sky. Only the village's youngest child, Billie Ray, knows what the monster really needs. Murray (Marsh & Me) draws a straight line between individual greed and environmental disaster in this book about feeding deep desires. Human characters are portrayed with a variety of skin tones. Ages 6--9. (Feb.)

A monster spreads greed wherever it goes. The Wanting Monster lurks outside a village in the hopes that someone will notice it. The white-furred creature blows a puff of white smoke that attracts the attention of brown-skinned Mr. Banks, who's sleeping near a stream. Suddenly, Mr. Banks decides to dam up the waterway for his own private pool. Others see this new development and divert parts of the stream for their own purposes, causing it to dry up. After successfully sowing chaos, the Wanting Monster continues its path of destruction, whispering in the ears of other villagers, leading them to hoard all the flowers and even the stars in the sky. The results are barren fields and a land pitched into darkness. Feeling empowered, the Wanting Monster grows more powerful until a villager sings a lullaby, showing the creature the love it's never experienced. Overcome with emotion, the monster weeps. So do the villagers; they cry enough tears to refill the stream. They then come to their senses and fix their mistakes. This fable teases out the difference between wants and needs and illustrates how excessive desire can lead to heartache. Read's folkloric art has an ominous quality to it, with skies filled with gray, purple, and black swirls evoking the current climate disaster. The villagers vary in skin tone. An atmospheric musing on the perils of avarice.(Picture book. 5-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.