The two animated short films, Miyako by Jessica Do and The Monster Under My Bed by Karlijn Scholten tell of young girls with monsters under their beds. With similarities in themes, animation techniques, and storytelling, the two shorts are great for teaching to compare and contrast.
Miyako and The Monster Under My Bed

What’s Included
- Video Links
A page with links for finding the film - Two Activities
- Students summarize both films.
- On the next organizer, use their summaries to compare and contrast the films.
- Answer Keys
- Google Slides Version
You will also find a link to the Google Slides version of the organizers.
Miyako [2:00]
The Monster Under My Bed [2:37]
Film Summary
Miyako Story
A young Japanese girl sleeps beside her wooden doll. During the night, the doll awakens suddenly alert. The doll leans over the side of the bed and spots a giant black shadow monster. The doll pulls out her sword to attack. She swings it at the monster, cutting it in two, but it doesn’t die. Its two halves just slither away.
Two shadow monsters return on the wall over Miyako’s bed. They merge into one large monster.
The wooden doll has a plan. She climbs the dresser by stepping on the drawer pulls and using her sword as a pick. The doll then turns on the lamp. Now her shadow is larger than life and appears next to the shadow monster. With a slash, the doll can slay the monster. The doll turns off the lamp, puts away her sword, and returns to bed to keep watch over Miyako.
The Monster Under My Bed Story
A young girl awakens and screams. Her father rushes into her room. The girl points under her bed. The father gets down and searches. He finds a toy jester and shows it to the girl. The father leaves the room.
The girl tries to go back to sleep but hears noises coming from under the bed. The girl opens a bag of cookies, throws one on the floor, and watches to see what will happen.
A hand reaches out and takes the cookie. The girl drops a second cookie. The hand reaches out and takes the cookie. The hand sticks out from under the bed with the palm up as if to ask for more cookies. The girl drops the third cookie in the monster’s hand.
The girl then holds up a cookie to entice the monster to come out from under the bed. He does. The girl feeds the monster cookies. The monster nuzzles the girl’s head with his head to say thank you.
The monster then wants to play ball. The noise brings Dad back into the girl’s room. The monster is safely hidden away when Dad opens the door. He tells his daughter to get in bed. The girl climbs into the bed and falls asleep, holding the monster’s hand.
If you missed the link above, here it is again. Click this button to get the printable activities plus links to the Google Slides version.
More Samples from the Teaching Writing with Animated Shorts Series
- Comparing Two Shorts with the Animated Short Distracted and Dear Alice
- Literature Skills with Crow: The Legend
- Problems and Solutions + Inference with the Animated Short On the Same Page
- Setting and Comparing a Short Film to the Novel Refugee with the Short The Box
- Character Change and Mood with the Animated Short One Small Step
- Details from the Story with the Animated Short Broken: Rock, Scissors, Paper
- Problem and Solution Chain and Theme with the Animated Short The Catch
- Your Course of Action + Comparing Two Films with the Animated Short Coin Operated
- Summarizing and Comparing Two Films with Miyako and The Monster Under My Bed
Check out all six products in the Reading and Writing Series. Units are also available as bundles.
Reading Series