Like most kids, Roberto doesn’t want to help with household chores. Who wants to clean the bedroom? Yuck!
Roberto tells his mother he can’t clean his room because he’s afraid the Closet Monster might lock him away forever! “Maybe you should help me,” he tells his mother. “The Closet Monster is afraid of you.” But Mamá insists he clean his own room.
And when Mamá asks for Roberto’s help wiping the table and sweeping the kitchen floor, he again tries to wiggle out of cleaning because of his fear of monsters—in this case, the Under the Table Monster and the Dust Monster. “If I sweep the floor,” he says, “the Dust Monster might come and blow me away forever!”
Later, when Roberto is ready for his mother to read him a story, she turns the tables on him. She can’t read him a bedtime story because the Work Monster might take her away! But Roberto knows the Work Monster won’t take his mother away. “I know because the Work Monster is afraid of me!” So Roberto grabs a mop and willingly helps his mom finish the chores. Together, Roberto and his mother put an end to the cleaning and the monsters!
In this entertaining picture book about a boy’s creative attempts to avoid doing chores around the house, first-time children’s book author Spelile Rivas creates an amusing scenario to illustrate how working together to complete tasks is beneficial for all involved.
