“Bad-Off Boris & the Cupcake Cave-in”: Monster Inspired Book with “Universal” Concepts!

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With Chicago suffering yet another heat-wave, I guess I failed to realize that the end of summer is finally upon us. It didn’t actually hit me until I left for work one morning and kept getting held up by stopping school buses. Their sudden reappearance reminds me of big yellow whales invading neighborhood waters during a Fall migration. My kids are all back as well which means when I come home each evening I’m sure to see a stack of permission slips and teacher memos along with the usual barrage of ordering sheets courtesy of the various Scholastic Book Clubs.

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Dinosaurs Stomp the Milwaukee Zoo!

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In an effort to bring in more guests to support the animals in their collections, many zoos around the country are seeking out extinct ones! Dinosaurs are a HUGE hit among kids (and adult kids like me) and perfectly illustrate that some of the best monsters imaginable were ones that really existed! These shots were taken at the Milwaukee Zoo’s “Adventure Dinosaur”  and I loved how they incorporated realistic looking foliage to really give guests the full dino-effect! The prehistoric beasts also moved and made sounds!

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Penny Dreadful’s Shilling Shockers’ Monster Hunting Kit!

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It’s always a pleasure for a Midwesterner like myself to meet up with the incomparable Penny Dreadful and the talented crew of Shilling Shockers! I had driven from my native Chicago to attend this year’s MONSTERBASH convention in Pennsylvania and it provided the perfect halfway point for catching up with New England’s finest. I had just spent the previous weeks watching her wonderful Season Eight (which I urge you to order copies for yourselves by clicking HERE) and wanted to tell them personally what a great job I thought they’d done on it.

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“Haunting Tales of Horrorbles” and Svengoolie!

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I hadn’t seen Horror Host, Svengoolie, descend upon Berwyn (a town he’s helped make famous) since he Grand Marshalled their “Houby Parade” last October (story HERE). I can’t recall the last time I’d seen him at their local treasure, “Horrorbles,” but I DO know that it was some time before I became a “Terror Dave.”  It couldn’t happen too much for me, as the two seem made for each other. Not only because the Horror themed store is the official supplier of Sven’s rubber chickens but because they are both hallowed horror institutions of Chicagoland.

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