A Monster Calls

Today's post is A Monster calls by Patrick Ness and Inspired by Siobhan Dowd. The illustrations are by Jay Kay. It is published by Candlewick Press, is 204 pages ling excluding the author's note at the beginning. The author's note is important because Ms. Dowd died before she could write this book. So her friend wrote it for her. This story made me cry but it was so beautiful. The main character is Conor and a monster is calling him. He wakes up to hear a monster calling his name. Over the course of the story the monster tells Conor three stories but at the end Conor must tell him one. One true story. I won't tell you who or what the monster really is but he is no danger to Conor. The story is really about Conor learning to handle grief and loss. While I was reading this I was made to think about my own journey to peace with grief and loss. That is something to be proud of as a writer to pull the real emotions of the reader, to bring the reader back to points in their lives, so that they will understand the protagonist. Ness does this beautifully. When Conor had his revelation I cried and remembered my own. If I had a child in my life going through something like Conor is I would give them this book.