[BOOK REVIEW] A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Title:  A Monster Calls

Author:  Patrick Ness

Artist: Jim Kay

Genre:  Fantasy / Horror / Drama

Year Published: 2011

Number of Pages: 205 pages 

Date Read: 2/23/2018

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 12+ (Some Disturbing Imagery and Language)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

“You do not write your life with words...You write it with actions. What you think is not important. It is only important what you do.” 

Alright, I had actually been hearing about Patrick Ness’ hit book “A Monster Calls” for many years and I have been trying to read it ever since, but I never had the time to!  Now, I finally got the chance to read this book (especially after the movie has been released) and oh man, you will be both shocked and crying after you get through with this unique gem!

The story starts off with a young boy named Conor O’Malley, who was suffering from an intense nightmare where he was engulfed in darkness and he was holding onto the hands of someone he cares about, except that he accidentally let the person’s hand go and the person ends up falling to their death.  The nightmares started when Conor’s mother ended up getting cancer and she has to go through numerous treatments to treat her cancer.  Unfortunately, the treatments were not working well and the worse Conor’s mother’s condition got, the more Conor pushed away everyone who is trying to help him through this, including his divorced father and his former best friend Lily.  It was then that Conor subconsciously called upon a monster to help him through this ordeal and in order to help out Conor, the monster tells Conor that he will tell three stories and that Conor must tell the fourth story himself.  However, the monster warns Conor that telling the fourth story will not be easy as it will cause lots of pain for Conor.

Will Conor tell the fourth tale and will his mother survive her cancer?

Read this book to find out!

Wow…just wow…How could I wait this long to read this unique gem!?  Patrick Ness has done a spectacular job at writing this book as the narrative is both emotional and intense to read through and I was sitting on the edge of my seat trying to figure out what the monster’s motives are and whether or not Conor’s mother will survive her cancer.  I liked the fact that Patrick Ness wrote this story in dedication to Siobhan Dowd, who had died from cancer herself before she was able to complete this story and I really enjoyed the twists and turns that Patrick Ness spin into this tale as it made the narrative extremely unpredictable at times and that is what has gotten me so interested in this story!  I have also noticed some parallels with this story and Joe Kelly’s fantastic graphic novel “I Kill Giants” where both protagonists have to deal with their parents being ill and how their insecurities about their parents’ conditions take on monstrous forms.  Jim Kay’s artwork is probably what sold this book to me as they were truly frightening to look at and I just loved the way that everything is done in shadows as it gives the story a truly mysterious feel.  I also loved the images of the monster itself as it truly looked like what I expected a yew tree monster to look like and the images where it looms over Conor are truly terrifying!

For anyone who does not like disturbing imagery, there are some images in this book that are truly frightening, especially the images of the monster itself.  Also, there is some language in this book, although it is not that strong, with only a few mutters of the “h” word being said.

Overall, “A Monster Calls” is truly intense yet beautiful tale about accepting the harsh realities of life that every fantasy and horror fan should definitely check out!  Of course, be forewarned about the ending…it will make you cry a thousand times over before you finished this book!

* 2011 Galaxy British Book Awards for Children's Book of the Year

* 2011 Bram Stoker Award Nominee for Best Young Adult Novel

* 2011 The Kitschies for Red Tentacle (Novel)

* 2011 Galaxy National Book Award for Children's Book of the Year

* 2011 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Middle Grade & Children's

* 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Nominee for Young Adult Literature

* 2012 Kate Greenaway Medal

* 2012 Red House Children's Book Award

* 2012 The Inky Awards Shortlist for Silver Inky

* 2012 Carnegie Medal

* 2012 The Inky Awards Nominee for Silver Inky

* 2012 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis for Preis der Jugendjury & Nominierung Kategorie Kinderbuch

* 2012 Prix Elbakin.net for Meilleur roman fantasy traduit Jeunesse

* 2013 Prix Imaginales for Jeunesse

* 2013 Grampian Children's Book Award Nominee

* 2014 Gouden Lijst for vertaald boek

* 2015 Lincoln Award Nominee

You might also like: 

• I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly

• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

• Gregory and the Grimbockle by Melanie Schubert

[ARC REVIEW] Gregory and the Grimbockle by Melanie Schubert (@NewWrinklePub, @M_L_Schubert)

Title:  Gregory and the Grimbockle

Author:  Melanie Schubert

Artist: Abigail Kraft

Book Soundtrack:  Jared Kraft

Genre:  Life / Children's / Drama / Family / Adventure / Fantasy

Year Published: 2017

Year Read:  12/29/2017 

Publisher: New Wrinkle Publishing

Source: eARC (NetGalley)

Content Rating:  Ages 7+ (Some Scary Imagery)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads

I would like to thank NetGalley and New Wrinkle Publishing for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

YES!  Another new book from the folks over at NetGalley!  When I saw this book over at NetGalley, I just had to pick this beauty up as soon as possible!  “Gregory and the Grimbockle” is a children’s book that is written by Melanie Schubert along with artwork by Abigail Kraft and it is definitely one fantasy read that children should check out!

Gregory is a ten-year-old boy who does not have many friends and his family often ignores him whenever he is home.  But, probably the biggest sore spot about Gregory is that he has a large mole on his face that everyone keeps picking at, despite the fact that it causes him great painOne night however, Gregory’s enormous mole suddenly opens up and out stepped a Grimbockle who has a cockroach steed and it was then that the Grimbockle tells Gregory about his job in collecting thread like creatures called Exoodles that appear on human beings and repair them whenever they are damaged.  Gregory then wanted to help the Grimbockle with his duties and the two of them go on a wild adventure to fix all the exoodles on humans before it is too late!

Wow! Just wow!  I never would have thought that I would be able to read a children’s book that is so full of imagination and adventure that it wounded up being one of the most unique books I had read for this year!  Melanie Schubert has done an excellent job at writing this book as the writing is both witty and exciting to read through.  I loved the way that Melanie Schubert used various phrases like “Grimbockle” and “Exoodles” to explain the bizarre world that the Grimbockle lives in as it reminded me of the wacky phrases used in books that are written by Dr. Seuss and Roald Dahl.  I also loved the way that Melanie Schubert had written Gregory as being an all loving hero who only wants to help the people he cares about and I like the fact that this story is set up as a coming of age story for Gregory himself as he learns to show compassion towards people, even towards people that treat him badly.  The mysterious world of the Bockles was so magical and imaginative that I found myself fawning over the small world of the Bockles and how they are able to see the mysterious exoodles when no one else can!  Abigail Kraft’s artwork is highly creative and detailed, especially of the images of Gregory himself as his facial expressions are usually drawn in an exaggerated way and yet, I have always loved the surprised look on his face as it reflects the bizarre situation he is thrown into quite well.  I also loved the images of the Bockles themselves as they are portrayed as small purple creatures who have large eyes and have some features that make them look like little elves.

Parents should know that there is some scary imagery in this book, which mainly consist of images of the dark exoodles, which are black worm like things that pop out of people’s heads.  This may cause some small children to be terrified about the possibility of having strange worm like creatures in their heads, even though this book is purely fictional (yuck, even that makes me feel nauseous typing this down).  Parents might want to read this book first to see if their children can handle the scary imagery in this book.

Overall, “Gregory and the Grimbockle” is a fantastic fantasy adventure for children both young and old!  I would recommend this book to children ages 7 and up due to some of the scary imagery.

You might also like:

• The Frog Prince by Mike Klaassen

• Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman
• Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

[ARC REVIEW] Herding Cats: A "Sarah's Scribbles" Collection by Sarah Andersen (@SarahCAndersen, @AndrewsMcMeel)

Title:  Herding Cats: A "Sarah's Scribbles" Collection

Author:  Sarah Andersen

Genre:  Humor / Life / Art

Year Published: 2018

Year Read:  12/13/2017 

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC 

Series: Sarah's Scribbles #3

Source: eARC (NetGalley)

Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Some Language and Suggestive Humor)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

I would like to thank NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Introduction:

I have been hearing so many good things about Sarah Andersen’s popular “Scribbles” series and yet, I was not able to pick up any of her books when they were coming out.  Well, now I finally got the chance to pick up one of her books through NetGalley, which is the third book in the series called “Herding Cats” and I was quite amazed by the humorous antics shown in this book!

What is this story about?

In this volume, Sarah shows her experiences in both real life and the internet life through her artwork (or scribbles as they are known as) to relate to the readers such as trying to get through one page in a book only to keep on reading the book even after you promised yourself to just read one more page or seeing some progress happen in the United States only for the 2016 elections to cause mayhem afterwards.

What I loved about this story:

Sarah Andersen’s writing: Wow! I was quite amazed by how Sarah Andersen wrote this graphic novel series!  I loved the way that Sarah Andersen relates her observations about real life both through her life and through the internet in a humorous yet thought provoking way as I found myself agreeing with a majority of her thoughts about real-life.  I really loved the part about the 2016 elections as it was stated in one of the panels about how politics was making progress before 2016 and then the 2016 elections hit and there was chaos and mayhem!  I was also impressed with the fact that this graphic novel series is similar to Allie Brosh’s series “Hyperbole and a Half” as both series have the authors relating their own lives through their artwork and both are done in a hilarious way!  I also loved the fact that Sarah Andersen provided some advice at the end of the book about how to deal with the pressures of both the real world and the internet community and how if you encounter some struggles in your life, just keep on creating things that you love (in Sarah Andersen’s case, it is continuing to draw her comics no matter how hard things get in both the real world and the internet community).

Sarah Andersen’s artwork: Sarah Andersen’s artwork is truly hilarious to look at as the characters are drawn in a squat comic book fashion and I especially love the images of Sarah herself as she is drawn as having spiky hair and is wearing a black and white striped shirt.  I also loved how Sarah Andersen conveyed some of the situations in real life through the images such as the state of politics being shown as a person with an American flag shaped head and then the next panel shows lots of people fighting each other in a fiery landscape after the results of the 2016 elections.

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

The reason I took off half a point from the rating was because I felt that the story telling was a bit disjointed at times and it was hard for me to really follow what is really going on in the story, even though this is meant to take on different aspects of real life and put them in comic book format.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Herding Cats: A Sarah Scribbles Collection” is a truly hilarious graphic novel to read, especially if you want to see a more humorous take on real life!

You might also like:

• Tales from the Crib by Henrik Drescher

• Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh
• Goodnight iPad by Ann Droyd

[BOOK REVIEW] Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep by Jack Prelutsky

Title:  Nightmares:  Poems to Trouble Your Sleep

Author:  Jack Prelutsky

Artist: Arnold Lobel

Genre:  Horror / Poetry / Halloween / Monsters

Year Published: 1976

Year Read: 2009

Publisher:   Greenwillow Books

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 7+  (Some Scary Imagery and Graphic Dialogue)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Nightmares” is a book of poems written by Jack Prelutsky along with illustrations by Arnold Lobel.  This book contains poems about various monsters, wizards and ghosts doing horrible things to unsuspecting people.  “Nightmares” might be too scary for smaller children, but older children will love the macabre content of this book. 

Jack Prelutsky’s writing is dramatic and intense as he brings true horror to these poems.  Each poem describes a monster doing horrible acts towards their victims and Jack Prelutsky brings great detail to how these victims are tortured, such as in “The Vampire” where Jack Prelutsky describes how the Vampire bites down on its victim and licks the blood off its lips.  Arnold Lobel’s illustrations are the center of attention here as they are in black and white coloring, giving the story a gothic feel to it.  The image that stood out the most was the image of the Dragon of Death having seven heads and vicious looking eyes in the poem “The Dragon of Death.” 

“Nightmares” is surely one of Jack Prelutsky’s most haunting books he ever created since it talks about how monsters torture their victims to death.  I would recommend this book to children ages seven and up since there are too many advanced words that young children might not understand and because of the macabre content displayed vividly in this book.

You might also like: 

• In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories by Alvin Schwartz

• Boris and Bella by Carolyn Crimi

• Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam

[ARC REVIEW] Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas by Jun Asuka (@TOKYOPOP)

Title:  Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas


Author:  Jun Asuka (Original Script by Tim Burton)


Artist:  Jun Asuka

Genre: Horror / Adventure / Romance / Halloween / Christmas / Adaptation 


Year Published: 2004


Year Read: 2017

Publisher: Tokyopop


Source: eARC (NetGalley and Edelweiss)



Content Rating:  Ages 8+ (Some Scary Images and Scary Situations)


Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

I would like to thank NetGalley, Edelweiss and Tokyopop for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Introduction:

Now, I will start going into fangirl mode here since I will be talking about one of my most favorite animated movies of all time!   I will admit that when I was little, I was actually terrified of Tim Burton’s classic animated movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” due to the scary visuals presented in the film.  But, when I started watching this film way back in high school, I suddenly fell in love with this creepy yet memorable movie and it has become one of my most favorite films to watch during Halloween (next to “Hocus Pocus,” of course)!  So, when both NetGalley and Edelweiss gave me a copy of the manga adaptation of “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” which was adapted by Jun Asuka, I was jumping around with glee since I never would have thought that a manga version of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” would ever be made!

What is this story about?

Based off the classic animated film, Jack Skellington is the scariest creature in Halloween Town, but unfortunately, he has started to get tired of doing the same old things every year for Halloween and he goes out into the woods to discover more things to do.  One day, while he was out in the woods, he discovers a door that has a Christmas tree on it and he ends up going through the door and discovering Christmas Town and Santa Claus.  It was then that Jack decided to become Santa Claus that year and deliver some “presents” to all of the girls and boys in the world.  Unfortunately, Sally, the ragdoll that loves him, has a terrible premonition about Jack’s Christmas turning into a disaster and Sally has to stop Jack from becoming Santa Claus and delivering the presents to the kids before it is too late!

What I loved about this story:

The story:  Wow!  I was quite impressed with this story!  “The Nightmare Before Christmas” has always been one of my most favorite animated movies of all time and I was so excited to finally be able to check out the manga version of this movie!  As I come to expect, the manga version of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” was completely faithful to the original movie, from the dialogue to the situations that happened in the film.  I loved revisiting the movie in manga format since it was quite unexpected for me to see this movie in manga form rather than in a regular graphic novel format and it just made this manga so original to read through!  I also loved the fact that this manga focused more on Jack and Sally’s relationship with each other than the movie did and I loved the fact that we get more focus on Sally’s perspective of the whole situation in this manga since I wanted to see more from her character in the movie and this manga did a great job at fleshing out Sally’s character even further.

Jun Asuka’s artwork:  Jun Asuka’s artwork was both creative and adorable to look at!  I loved how Jun Asuka’s artwork was faithful to original designs of the characters from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” movie as they look just as creepy as in the movie, but with a bit more anime style added for effect!  I also loved the way that Jun Asuka designed Sally in this manga as Sally is drawn in a much cuter style than in the movie and it makes her into a more endearing character to read about in this manga!

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

The reason why I took off half a point from the star rating was because the copy I got seemed a bit incomplete.  It seemed like the bottom half of the pages were cut off a bit and there was a bit of dialogue that I ended up missing because it got cut off at the bottom.  Luckily, I have seen the movie enough times to figure out what is going on and I probably would have given this manga a five-star rating if I had not received an incomplete copy of this manga.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” manga is a joy to read if you are a fan of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and of manga in general!  I would highly recommend it to manga and horror fans alike!

You might also like: 

• Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix Volume 1 by Shiro Amano

• Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix Volume 2 by Shiro Amano

[ARC AND BOOK REVIEW] Lio: Making Friends by Mark Tatulli and Henry and the Hidden Treasure by B.C.R. Fegan

Title:  Lio: Making Friends

Author:  Mark Tatulli

Genre:  Horror / Comedy / Fantasy / Animals

Year Published:  2013

Year Read: 6/8/2017

Series: Lio

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 7+ (Dark Humor)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads

What is this story about?

Check out more adventures of Lio and his spooky friends in this graphic novel series as Lio gets into more hilarious and creepy situations such as sending a “thank you” note to the Grim Reaper, trying to attract the attention of his love interest, a girl who constantly beats him up, receiving a birthday cake that explodes on impact and taking Godzilla to Tokyo!

What I loved about this story:

After I had read the previous volume “There’s a Monster in my Socks,” I wanted to check out more of Mark Tatulli’s hilarious and creepy “Lio” series and I was certainly not disappointed with this installment!  I loved the way that Mark Tatulli manages to weave both horror and comedy into this volume as I found myself laughing at some of the situations that Lio gets himself into, especially the “exploding birthday cake” scene which I found to be the funniest strip in this volume!   Mark Tatulli’s artwork helps narrate the stories in this volume as this series does not have any text to narrate the stories and yet, the artwork itself tells the stories and bring out the punchlines of the dark jokes.  I also loved the appearance of Lio himself as he has blank eyes and slick hair and he really stands out from the monster characters he is constantly hanging out with as he looks adorable while the monster characters look creepy and goofy.

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

A bit of a warning for anyone who does not like dark humor; this volume contains some punchlines that might be too dark for some readers to handle such as a child being eaten by a shark when Lio holds a bobbing for apples game and Lio’s toy bunny eating up a bully.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Lio: Making Friends” is another fantastic read from Mark Tatulli’s legendary “Lio” series!

Title:  Henry and the Hidden Treasure

Author:  B.C.R. Fegan

Artist:  Lenny Wen

Genre:  Adventure / Imagination / Family / Monsters

Year Published: 2017

Year Read:  2017

Publisher: TaleBlade

Source:  eARC (Publisher)

Content Rating:  Ages 4+ (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

I would like to thank the publisher TaleBlade for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The story is about a young boy named Henry who has received some pocket money from his parents and he ends up hiding the pocket money in his little treasure chest, even though his parents keep telling him that he needs to put his money in the bank.  However, Henry has a small problem: he believes that his little sister Lucy is actually a sly ninja who is out to steal his treasure and Henry tries to think up of some schemes that will prevent Lucy from stealing his treasure!

Will Henry be successful in protecting his treasure from Lucy and what kind of tricks will Lucy pull from her sleeves?

Read this book to find out!

I was actually quite surprised that TaleBlade had offered me a free advanced review copy of this book as I was quite interested in checking out this cute little children’s book from the mind of B.C. R. Fegan!  B.C.R. Fegan has done a great job at writing this story as it focuses on Henry trying to protect his precious pocket money from his little sister Lucy and I loved the fact that this story tackles the importance of taking your parents’ advice if said advice is meant to help the child in the long run.  I also loved the fact that B.C.R. Fegan focused on the importance of the love shared between siblings as the story relates how Henry would distrust his little sister Lucy in terms of whether or not she would steal his money and I was quite interested in seeing how Henry would solve his dilemma with his little sister Lucy throughout the story.  Lenny Wen’s artwork is adorable to look at as the characters are drawn in a rounded and adorable way that made me smile inside!  I also loved the fact that Lenny Wen used watercolors to provide a luscious feel to the artwork and they really shine in the images of the monsters themselves, especially of the artwork of the large pink pig that would have helped Henry guard his treasure.

The reason why I took off half a point from the rating was because I felt that there was a bit of a plot hole in this story as I was curious about how Henry got his pocket money (I know it seems a bit odd to know about, but I wanted to know if Henry got his money from house chores or the like).  I also wanted to see more moments between Henry and Lucy when Henry is not busy imagining Lucy as a ninja most of the time, since I wanted to see the full extent of their relationship in the real world.

Overall, “Henry and the Hidden Treasure” is a truly cute book for children who want to learn the importance of taking good advice from parents and loving their siblings for all of their faults.  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.