Book excerpt: People will tell you that there are no such things as monsters. But if you ask Alexander Applebee, hell tell you another story. He has a math monster, and that monster can be very distracting when its time to do math. Alex tries telling his math teacher, his mother, and even his grandfather about the blue-eyed monster whose antics make it hard to concentrate on the subject. Alex is flabbergasted that no one can see or hear the math monster, and they just dont understand his problem. Hes a bit relieved when he discovers other children have their own monsters. Though this makes him feel a little better, he must figure out how to deal with his own monster. In this picture book for children, Alexs unexpected adventure with his math monster reminds us that success in life is often a matter of taming our own creatures.