There's a Nightmare in my Closet

Mayer, M. (1968). There’s a nightmare in my closet. New York: Penguin.

Genre: Picture Book

Thank you, Charlene Martin!

Summary: Each night as he goes to bed, a little boy closes his bedroom closet in an effort to avoid letting his nightmare (which he is certain lives in there) escape into his room. One particular night as the boy crawls into bed and pulls his cover up to his eyes, his nightmare comes true: a large, hideous monster emerges from the closet, advances toward him, and jumps on the foot of the boy’s bed. In a delightful ending, the boy not only faces his fears but also embraces them.

Terms: Mayer portrays the boy and the monster through indirect characterization, allowing the reader to make inferences about both of them. The boy, for example, is depicted as being afraid of what looms in his closet. Apparently, his fear is that a monster is lurks in his closet, so the boy is careful to close the door each night. Through this behavior as well as his jumping into bed and pulling the covers over his head, the author presents a character with whom everyone can identify, from the child who struggles with bedtime fears to the adult who wrestles with life issues. Likewise, the monster, though illustrated as a tall, ugly, pink being with green polka dots, a gaping mouth, and large ears, proves that he is quite an emotional mess himself. Such actions create the boy’s empathy for the monster, which in turn creates empathy in the reader. The story of a monster who ends up being scared himself makes the book an excellent read for young children who have similar fears at night or in the dark, but it is even better for older children since it requires an amount of inference for which four and five year olds may not be developmentally ready. While this skill may not be necessary to enjoy and understand the book, the story is enhanced by it. The boy does not say exactly why the monster is crying, for example.  He also does not tell why he shuts the closet door after he tucks the monster into bed. Children would benefit from a discussion of these events. High school students, however, are equipped to dive into the symbolism of the monster. Clearly, the monster – or nightmare – represents any fear that we create in our lives, particularly those that we allow to become “larger than life.”  In fact, one theme of the book involves an ownership of those fears and the possible outcome of not only facing but also embracing those fears.

               Interestingly, the illustrations in this book are limited to only a handful of colors, including pops of green and orange, on a muted background. The illustrations seem to reflect the simplicity of the language and syntax in sentences such as, “Go away, nightmare, or I’ll get you!” and “I was mad, but not too mad.” In fact, the pages of the book are filled mostly with the artwork, while the sentences occupy minimal space. This further underscores the theme since the idea(s) become larger, or more important, than the words that are used to express the idea.

Curriculum Connection: An elementary librarian friend recommended this book to me when I inquired about picture books I could pair with the classic literature I already include in my classes.  In the future, I will pair this book with Frankenstein in my Pre-AP English II classes. While it certainly fits nicely with the monster as a literary archetype, it also shares a thematic link. Just as the monster in that novel is unnamed for various reasons (including the fact that we can all identify with the monster on some level), the monster in this picture book is not identified nor described in detail. This helps the reader associate our own nightmares or fears in place of this particular creature.

This book would also pair well thematically with 1984, a novel in which the government, or “Big Brother” gains information about individual citizens’ greatest fears and using those fears against them. For both novel units, this picture book would be a great introduction and discussion starter to focus on such BIG questions as, “What nightmare hides in your closet?” and “What would happen if you confronted your own monster?”
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.