Book Drops: "A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. Inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd.

A Monster Calls is a wonderful, dark and hopeful tale. Conor wakes up in the middle of the night anticipating the arrival of a monster. A monster that takes the shape of a yew tree. His only solace from the monster comes during the day, however, this is what he has to confront the fact that his mother is battling cancer and has become weaker and sicker due to the treatments that are supposed to help her. It has been going on for awhile and Conor seems to have called upon this monster to help him...and her.
A Monster Calls is beautifully illustrated by Jim Kay. His illustrations are dark and inky and convey the fear and pain that Conor is experiencing.
This is a very difficult book to read if you have ever experienced someone battling cancer. It really reminded me of my own experience when my dad was fighting stomach cancer. The anger, the fear, the loss, it is all here. However, it is a good way to help kids understand that it is ok to feel angry, to think those thoughts that they do not want to speak and to not feel guilty for wanting to let their loved one go. Honestly, I bawled after I finished this book, but I am glad, that there is a book like this out there that kids and adults can read to help them cope with the journey of losing a loved one who is fighting a disease.

Book Drops: "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness (rated 4 stars)

The Knife of Never Letting Go: Chaos Walking: Book One

by Patrick Ness

Book 1 of the Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness is an incredible space adventure. A couple of things I associated with it while reading – the Firefly series (hello, Nathan Fillion) because of the space cowboys feel and the Disney movie, “Up”, because the dog “talks” and in one seen, a giant bird, like Kevin, briefly makes an appearance.
Todd Hewitt, is turning 13. He’s finally going to be a man. In Prentisstown, 13 is the year boys transition to manhood. The thing is, Todd, is the last boy in Prentisstown. There are no women. The other thing about Prentisstown is that you can hear everyone’s thoughts, or noise, including the animals. For the past couple of months, Todd, has pretty much been alone, well, he does have a dog, Manchee, who he never wanted. Men do not talk to boys in Prentisstown. Why that is Todd does not know. He just accepts it because that is how it has always been.
One day Todd is wandering around the swamps, the only place a person can get away from the noise, when he stumbles upon a weird patch of silence. Silence does not exist…or does it? This “silence” will lead to the destruction of all that Todd knows about Prentisstown and the New World.
This book moves very quickly. It also brings up questions of what would happen if you could not block out all the information that is constantly floating out at you, or how do you keep a hold of your own identity, and also how far would you go to protect your self? There is a lot of violence (against women, boys, animals and aliens) so I would say this is for middle school and high school. Also, the only drawback is that this is NOT a stand alone book. You will have to read Book 2 to find out what happens next – The Ask and the Answer will be out in Sept. 2009.

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