Lonna Baum

Monty the Menace Lonna Baum

Mr. and Mrs. Katt are worried. Their son Monty doesn't behave like his two sisters. He is always getting into trouble. Can they find out why and help Monty?

Monty the Menace, the first in a series of books about special needs, explores "being different" and how it feels to be placed in this category. The fully illustrated book tells the story of Monty, an accident-prone kitten whose problems are caused by his inability to see clearly. It exposes children to Monty's feelings and the reactions of his family to his antics before and after he gets glasses. The goals of this and future books in the series are to increase the understanding of special needs and to emphasize the fact that those with physical differences are not really different after all.

Monty the Menace won a Gold Mom's Choice Award for Children's Books. It includes a series of questions suitable for teachers and parents to help encourage discussion about understanding differences.