I really did find a monster in my basement and his hair really was red and matted.  Yellow really were his eyes.  The rest of the story, however, I totally made up!

 

I'm Dave Preston and I wrote the song that's now become the book, "The Monster in My Basement" - illustrated beautifully by Heather Lynn Harris.

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So... it happened that my oldest son was in the hospital when he was only 8 years old and a good friend bought him a huge stuffed friendly monster to cheer him up. We named the monster,  "Howard".   Luckily my son got all better and eventually he grew up and didn't need to play with his monster anymore, and that's how Howard found his way to my basement. 

 

Many years later I was looking for something else when I noticed Howard sitting high on a shelf, covered in dust and cobwebs.  Now I may, or may not, have started shaking. Regardless, I brought Howard upstairs, cobwebs and all, picked up my guitar and wrote the song.... all before lunch. I've been singing it to kids ever since.  With lots of help from the publisher and the illustrator, it's a book now and you can listen to the song while looking at the pictures!

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I hope you like the song and the book as much as I do, and don't forget: not everything turns out to be the way it first appears!

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Your friend,

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Dave

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