30BY ALEXA ALTMAN project MONSTERS UNDER THE BED? ASTORIA FAMILY CRAFTS CUDDLY MONSTERS BY ROSA KIM Not all monsters are scary. In fact, Lyla Tov Monsters are here to protect. Inspired by a gift designed by their young daughter Lyla, Eric and Erin Black make Lyla Tov Monsters — plushy, handmade toys that are the “guardians of a good night’s sleep.” The husband and wife team, along with their three children, have been making the toys out of their Astoria home since 2009. The family, who has sold 300 Lyla Tov Monsters in the last year, said the response they have gotten from parents and children inspire them to keep growing. They have received stories of Lyla Tov Monsters helping kids get through their fi rst days of school and others of them supporting children during their time at the hospital. “We heard from a girl who had an appendectomy who told us she only made through it because she had the monsters with her,” said Eric. The couple brings a collective 30 year experience in children’s media to the business—she is an Emmy-award winning costume designer for her work on Sesame Street; he has worked in children’s television for the Jim Henson Company and done work for Scholastic Media. Their mission now is to “try and bring a good night’s sleep to as many children as possible.” A play on Hebrew words, Lyla Tov means “good night.” The couple’s six-year-old daughter Lyla, made the original Lyla Tov when she was three years old as a
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