In case you aren’t following us on Instagram or Facebook, you may know that it’s Shy Little Monster Season!

The Shy Little Monster is the music-book I wrote & self-published, illustrated by Sarah Pilar. This (not scary!) Halloween story is a charming and beautifully illustrated Halloween book that celebrates silliness, friendship, and shows kids that hard things can be made just a little bit easier with the help of your (adorable monster) friends.

I shared the behind-the-scenes story on how we self-published this children’s book, but in case you haven’t read it, I want to tell you that creating The Shy Little Monster book was not in our plans. The Shy Little Monster is originally a song that I wrote four years ago and was sent out in my October Song-Of-The-Month Newsletter that year. I kept receiving messages and requests from music educators and music therapists to make the Shy Little Monster song into a book and well… we did it! Every year, The Shy Little Monster continues to be a Halloween favorite among preschoolers, kindergarteners, and their therapists & teachers. You can listen to episode 33 of the Music For Kiddos Podcast to get an inside scoop on how this Halloween children’s book came to live.

Some themes that could be discussed along with The Shy Little Monster book in your preschool and kindergarten lessons and sessions are:

Friendship
If you need more friendship song ideas for your lesson plan to go along with The Shy Little Monster, you may want to visit this blog post and this blog post.
Exploring voice volume

The importance of asking for help
Having confidence in yourself (self-esteem)
Doing new things or things that feel scary to us
Self-Management (from SEL framework) & having an opportunity to talk about taking initiative and using coping skills (like breathing)
Empathy (the monster friends showed care about the feelings of the Shy Little Monster)

The Shy Little Monster also shows kids that it's okay to be shy (like me and like Sarah, the illustrator!), and, most importantly, that good friends are always there to offer some encouragement and help you find your voice.