The Squeezor is Coming! by Becky Benishek is a short, fully illustrated children’s book about acceptance. Our main character, The Squeezor, is lonely because no one will trust him. He looks scary as anything, and there are some other annoying features that make him an outcast. After some self-reflection, he finds ways to help others and finally they come to trust and even like him.

The art is colorful, cute, detailed, and definitely for younger readers, but it’s the message that I found to be inspiring. So we have this person who looks odd and, frankly, offends people by the way he acts. He feels a little sad but doesn’t drown in self pity. Instead he tries to find out the things about himself that may be offensive to others and shows his willingness to change. This is, of course, a first step for an outcast who wants friends. And as shown in the book, opportunities arise for The Squeezor to help others, without expecting anything in return. This shows his kindness and makes him suddenly different in their eyes. And of course they cannot wait to tell their friends what The Squeezor did for them.

I see the second lesson as put yourself forward, do something nice for someone without expectations, which of course for this age group can be hard. But The Squeezor is Coming! by Becky Benishek shows that he perseveres and eventually finds that people look forward to seeing him. This story is highly recommended for young readers, especially for those who find acceptance by others as a challenge.

There are monsters, and there are monsters. In The Squeezor is Coming, written by Becky Benishek with artwork provided by Matt Fiss, there are monsters who are afraid of monsters. At least, they are afraid of one monster. Probably not so much because of those “curved horns,” “frightfully fanged grin,” or even the “chillingly sharp claws.” Nope. It’s those “wrap-around-you-twice arms!” And if you do not at least subliminally relate to the dreadful fear of imminent suffocation due to early and abundant familial displays of engulfing hugsmanship, well, then you’ve never been a child. And it is just this universal, if buried, ambivalent experience that makes reading this meant-for-children book so delightful, and its message so very clear. How to make people like you, is the question. Or, more important, how to make them let you show them you like them back. This book provides marvelous answers to both.

Becky Benishek and Matt Fiss team up superbly in The Squeezor is Coming to demonstrate the perils of such a monstrous need to share affection, the greatest of which is misinterpreting intentions. In these days, that is not a lightweight problem. One cannot just go around hugging willy-nilly. Trust must be established. And that is what The Squeezor proceeds to do, albeit with a wonderful lack of any ingratiating self-interest or specific agenda. He just wants to help. With professional writing and exquisite illustrations, a universal truth and message come to life through the graces of a monster. And if monsters can make friends with monsters, what’s not left for which to hope?