Sophie worries about everything, particularly the moon falling from the sky. When her brother tells her there’s a sea monster under her bed, she’s really worried. She finally finds the courage to check, and discovers there really is a sea monster under her bed! But this monster is as frightened of everything as she is – particularly about the moon falling from the sky. Although the sea monster would much rather stay beneath the bed dancing and singing and eating socks, Sophie lures him out, reading him stories, taking him to the park and the museum, and finally dancing with him on the moonlit beach, where they dare the moon to fall. At dawn the sea monster says farewell and slips into the water. Sophie returns home, her fears gone.

This is a delightful book, a perfect union of text and picture that makes the topic of facing one’s fears funny and accessible. Sophie is a nervous but plucky girl who can learn from a new friend. The sea monster’s hilarious music-hall routine under the bed, vividly rendered by Michael Martchenko’s colourful, manic illustrations, suggests that he, too, has potential to overcome his fears through friendship. When Sophie and the sea monster dance on the beach, their crazy song signals their emotional triumph: “Oh let that big old moon/Fall down from the sky/And land on all our homework/Like a pumpkin pie.” Martchenko’s grinning moon beams down on them, giving Sophie the newfound confidence to face her brother’s next threat: girl-eating bats.