With Leonardo the Terrible Monster, Mo Willems combines the use of page color with strategically placed text and illustration to create meaning. The reader follows Leonardo, a small monster with a huge head, in his quest to become a better monster. This means he must develop the ability to scare someone. Anyone. The use of soft, muted colors with hand-serif font gives the story an antiquated tone; and along with the sketchy lines of Willems’ illustrations, softens the tone of the story despite it being about a monster.

Pages themselves are a variety of muted shades (mauve, blue-gray, taupe, etc) and serve a number of different functions. Often they unify a page spread. When Leonardo sneaks up on a boy (Sam), the reader recognizes that the characters are part of the same composition, despite the fact that they are located on opposite sides of the gutter. Sometimes changes in page color support changes in mood. For instance, when Leonardo goes from being thoughtful to excited, the page color changes from blue-gray to mauve. Changes in font color also emphasize certain words and phrases, such as “terrible monster” and “wonderful friend.”

Contrast in size and placement are also important. In comparison to Leonardo, the other monsters spatially take up a larger portion of the page, and sometimes even extend off of a two page spread. This conveys to the reader how unlike a typical scary monster Leonardo is. When Leonardo has to make a big decision, his face spans an entire two-page spread to support the substantial nature of his thoughts. Overall, this picture book is well-crafted and the use of contrast and strategic placement of both visual and textual elements effectively engages readership both young and old.