Friendly monster stories

Seven At One Blow is the tale of a tailor who kills seven flies at one stroke, stitches a boast onto his belt, and finds the world takes him at his word. Seven minutes, listed for ages five to eight, and the monsters he faces are defeated by nerve rather than strength. It is the funnier of the two and the better bet for a first reading.

The one with more shadow in it

The Prince and the Goblin is six minutes and listed for six to ten. A goblin is a proper adversary here, and the story asks a little more of its listener — there is real discovery in it, and a friendship that has to be earned. Read it earlier in the evening than last thing.

A monster in a story is a shape to put a fear into. The reason both of these end with the creature outfaced rather than simply killed matters: the child gets to watch fear handled, not just removed.

That only works if the pitch is right. If your child comes back to a monster after lights out, that is worth paying attention to rather than arguing with, and our guide to fairy tales and fear is the practical one — how to tell a nervous listener from a thrilled one, and what to do on the nights you have misjudged it. Naming the monster something silly at the door, out loud, works better than reassurance.

It also helps to let your child decide what the monster looked like rather than describing it yourself. A monster a child has built is a monster a child can dismantle, and neither of these two stories pins the creature down for you.

Two stories will not last long. Giants, trolls and ogres is the nearest neighbour with six more, and dragon stories has eight, most of them ending in friendship rather than a fight.

Big creatures filed under other names

Elsewhere on the site, The Kingdom of the Ogres and The Dwarf With The Golden Beard both give you a big adversary, and Beauty and the Beast is the definitive version of the beast who is not a beast. For everything built on courage instead, bravery and courage is the full shelf.