A Monster Calls

When I first picked up A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness I didn't quite know what to expect. The book had some good, but dark artwork on the cover and throughout the book. The artwork made me feel like I was reading a children's book, but once I got into the story, I realized that this book was for young adults and adults only.

This novel deals with a young teenage boy dealing with his mother and her fight with cancer. He does not get along with his grandma and his father lives in another country with his new wife and their baby. The novel focuses on the young boy, Conor, and his daily struggles with his current situation.

He deals with his struggles and this frightening recurring nightmare by conversing with a Monster. The Monster tells him three tales throughout the novel, asking Conor to do one thing in return; tell his own tale. The tales told by the monster allow Conor to truly see his situation and his place in that situation.

I think this novel would be great to teach students in the classroom. First off, I think they would be attracted to a novel that included artwork. I think reluctant readers would feel welcomed by the artwork that accompanies the words on the pages. Secondly, this novel is broken up nicely. It contains three additional stories within the overarching story of the novel which circles around Conor and his struggles. The tales told by the monster are the complete opposite of boring and predictable. I think it would be a great exercise in the classroom to have the students predict what will happen at the end of each tale after reading the beginning of each tale. I am certain they will be amazed at the ending of each tale. The endings to these tales are far from the typical happy endings that exist in fairy tales. Lastly, I think students could look at Conor's situation, which I addressed earlier in this post, and realize that they don't have it so bad. If they are unfortunately in that situation, they can look at how Conor handled the situation and see how they could handle it better than he did. It will also give students in the class the opportunity to realize that if a student in their class is acting the way Conor did in this novel, then maybe that student is dealing with something difficult in their life. Maybe that student needs to be given some extra slack or maybe that student really needs a friend to talk to instead of a monster.

This novel was really enjoyable for me despite the fact that it deals with cancer. It made me look at my life and feel like I am really a lucky person. I also really enjoyed the tales within the novel. I still cannot get them out of my head. I think that a novel like this could bring a class together and create better human beings after the novel is read and discussed. Does anyone agree or disagree after reading this novel?

If you have not read this novel yet I strongly recommend it. It took me a few pages to get into it, but once I did, I could not put this book down.