50.) A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and Siobhan Dowd

“There is not always a good guy. Nor is there always a bad one. Most people are somewhere in between.”

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and Siobhan Dowd with illustrations by Jim Kay (Walker Books 2011)


Genre: Horror, Fantasy

Honors: Kate Greenaway Medal (2012), Galaxy British Book Awards for Children's Book of the Year (2011), Los Angeles Times Book Prize Nominee for Young Adult Literature (2011), Red House Children's Book Award (2012), ALA Teens' Top Ten Nominee (2012) Carnegie Medal in Literature (2012), The Inky Awards Nominee for Silver Inky (2012), Galaxy National Book Award for Children’s Book of the Year (2011), Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Books of the Year (2011), Grampian Children’s Book Award Nominee (2013), YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults (Top Ten) (2012), The Kitschies for Red Tentacle (Novel) (2011) [Honors Information found at Goodreads.com]

Review: Connor's mom is sick with cancer and her treatments are not helping her like they should be, and on top of that and the bullying he is receiving from school,  a monster continues to plauge him night after night in the form of an awakened yew tree. The monster says that he will tell Connor three stories, and then Connor must tell him a fourth, because if he doesn't then he will have to eat Connor. But soon Connor's mom takes a turn for the worse and the monster is the least of his problems.

Opinion: This is such a very deep novel. Not really horror at all, but about pain and grieving and loss. It definitely starts out very terrifying, but quickly turns to almost a problem novel in a way. The problem is that Connor is a teen who is dealing with the impending death of his mother, the fantasy element comes in with the Green Man who is both scary and caring. 

Ideas: I would recommend this to anyone who is dealing with grief from the loss, or the impending loss, of a loved one. I would also recommend this to a reluctant reader because the story is rather short, and moves very quickly with great creepy illustrations.

One of the illustrations in the book