Meet the Monsters

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Summary: Monsters Rule!!!
Review: Meet The Monsters By Jane Yolen
Book reviewer Jake age nine

Meet the Monsters is another one of Yolen's masterpieces. If you like monsters you definitely will get curled up with these fictional monsters right away. This book was one the most fun books I have read. It's all about different kinds of monsters that might hide in people's nightmares such as werewolves, Medusa, mummies, yeti's, sphinxes, golems, Frankenstein, the Loch Ness Monster, and vampires. And descriptions like " you can always scare a vampire by wearing a necklace of garlic or eating garlic. Of course garlic will scare away your friends too which is fine if one of them happens to be a vampire''.
Read Jane Yolen's great descriptions of the monsters followed by terrific illustrations. You will not find a better book to learn about monsters. I would recommend this book ages seven and up because some descriptions are a bit scary and confusing.

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Summary: and how to get rid of them
Review: My 5 year old son loves this book. He brought it to school with him and it was all he and his friends could talk about. The monsters are scarey, but it does tell how to get rid of them, which is very important to the younger set. I think my son was also fascinated by the stories behind the monsters. At his age he knows only some of these by name and few by reputation. It actually took the edge off of some of the monsters. Fear of the unknown is worse than fear of the known.

The variety of monsters, not just halloween favorites, was also a plus. The Loch Ness monster, the Sphinx, Medusa are each a perfect jumping off spot to talk about geography or history. I found it fun too.

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Summary: From Concerned Parent - Take Caution
Review: This book is found in most libraries in the "easy reading area". It is designed for readers between the ages of 4 to 8. The book attempts to describe various monsters and ways to defend against them; however, the text, despite being a poor example of proper grammar and extremely difficult to follow, is really a very grotesque and violent description of how these monsters terrify, kill and devour innocent children. For example: The text states how a vampire "drinks blood", "your blood", "from your neck where the big vein beats under your chin", "the Jugular". It states that the Sphinx "...eats flesh", "Human flesh". Referring to Frankenstein's Monster, it states that Frankenstein was "made like a patchwork quilt, with bits and pieces of dead people all sewn together". The text states that you may see the Gargoyle "...scratching itself in nasty places." Finally, in the description of the Ogre and Ogress, the text reads "they like to eat people. They like people burgers, and people meatloaf, and especially people pizza." The illustrations alone are more than enough to be quite concerned about. The vampire illustration depicts a wide-eyed Dracula type monster with blood dripping from his fangs and an equally grotesque vampire bat perched on his shoulder. In front of this monster is an unsuspecting fear stricken young girl on her knees in a graveyard. The illustration of the Ogre and Ogress shows the face of a fear struck young boy as he watches a man, a woman and a young boy eat ground up human flesh, complete with eye balls. Despite the fictitious nature of the book, the illustrations and text are clearly inappropriate for the books intended audience. Both the text and illustrations are more apt to instill fear in young children rather than to stimulate their imagination. Processing the real from the imagined in the mind of a young child is often times a difficult task which usually requires parental influence to assist children with the distinction. This book does nothing to assist parents with that responsibility. I do not recommend this book to any audience. A big disappointment by a quality author and illustrator.