A Monster Calls
Patrick Ness
illustrated by Jim Kay
Walker Books
April 2012 $16.95 AU
216p pb
ISBN: 978-1406339345
fp July 2011
from Walker Books..
An extraordinarily moving novel about coming to terms with loss.
The monster showed up just after midnight. As they do. But it isn t the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming... The monster in his back garden, though, this monster is something different. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth.
Costa Award winner Patrick Ness spins a tale from the final idea of much-loved Carnegie Medal winner Siobhan Dowd, whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself. Darkly mischievous and painfully funny, A Monster Calls is an extraordinarily moving novel of coming to terms with loss from two of our finest writers for young adults.
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A Monster Calls, is a beautifully illustrated young adult novel by Patrick Ness. The original idea came from Siobban Dowd, whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself. Ness had never met Dowd but was asked to finish the book for her. This could have been a recipe for disaster but instead produced an amazingly moving story. It tells the story of Conor, a thirteen year old boy who struggles to cope with the consequences of his mother's terminal cancer. Ness knows how to capture so many emotions in so few words. Jim Kay’s hauntingly beautiful illustrations really add to the tone of the story. It is an extremely sad story about coming to terms with loss. You’ll need a box of tissues…If you've ever been through any kind of grief, this book will really hit home. Monster Calls has received a number of well deserved awards and honours and I would recommend everyone go out and read it now.
Kylie, Canberra, Australia