A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

I’ve been obsessed with Patrick Ness since reading his Chaos Walking Trilogy, which is just absolutely mind blowing (if you haven’t red it yet, start now) so I obviously had to pick up his newest book.

13 year old Connor wakes up night after night from the same nightmare which is so horrifying he is too terrified to put it into words, he is bullied at school and his Mom is fighting terminal cancer even though she won’t admit to him how truly sick she really is. He seeks solace in a Monster who visits him during the night to tell him three stories and expects Connor to tell him the fourth in return. I honestly feel like saying anything else about this book would be a disservice to it because without wasting a word Ness has gives us a transcendent novel about a type of grief and loss that none of us should have to suffer and how ultimately we can survive it.

Ages 12+

Revied by Shannon, Senior Children's Book Buyer for Books Inc.