"A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness

Darkness. The monster stares at you from a distance. Is this just a dream? Maybe. The next night, it's closer. It's almost smiling at you. The following night, it's outside your window. It's calling your name, threatening to swallow you whole. You find that the lines between a dream and reality continually blur. But...what if this monster is there because you summoned it?

The gorgeous artwork by Jim Kay literally splatters across the pages of Patrick Ness's A Monster Calls, allowing it to perfectly encompass the dark and chaotic tale that fills its 219 pages. Various full-page illustrations not only add to the visual imagery but serve as dramatic pauses that add to the weight of the portrayed moments.

Conor is a British teenager dealing with a mother's battle with cancer, a father relocated to America, and a grandmother whose personality is antithetical to his own. He faces the torment of bullies at school and unwanted sympathy from everyone around him. His greatest fear: a nightmare that throws him awake and screaming in the middle of the night. He knows the monster is coming.

One night, he wakes up in the middle of the night at 12:07 to outside noise. A gaze out of the window confirms what he's been dreading: a monster is coming for him. The yew tree that sat behind his house for years has come to life. In a twist of irony, the tree monster declares that it's only there because Conor summoned him. Conor has been wrestling with a secret--a truth--that the tree intends to bring out of him. As his mother's cancer treatments intensify, his father temporarily returns from America, and Conor is thrust into his grandmother's care. He's losing touch with his social life and alienating those that care about him. The tree strikes a deal: it will tell three stories...Conor will tell his story. Not just any story, though. The story. The truth he's been hiding.

Conor begins to lose his grip on his reality, shunning the tree's stories as "cheats" and "tricks" instead of meaningful messages. Loneliness and darkness continue to pull Conor into the nightmare as his mother struggles to stay alive. Is the tree really there because Conor summoned him? A yew tree is the source of natural medicine and healing. Can it heal Conor's mother? Will it be too late?

I.

Loved.

This.

Book.

Patrick Ness has offered a text-only version of A Monster Calls, which would remove a key element of its story-telling. It would be similar to removing an amazing soundtrack from an epic film. The story tackles really critical issues in a young adult's life: family, divorce, death, bullying, friendship, and the list goes on. The entire tale is ridiculously engaging, and I couldn't imagine any aspect being conveyed a different way. Having been through a family loss (parental divorce), I was able to identify with Conor on a very deep level. I don't normally get choked up at the end of a novel, but this book moved me.

Students at the middle and high school level should absolutely take the time to devour this book. It's a visceral look that some more conservative parents may take issue with, but the argument can be made that it's crucial for adolescents to know the importance of having an outlet to deal with hardship. No child should have to be privy to the unnatural death of a parent, but it certainly happens. The experiences that Conor goes through are great points for class discussion--dealing with bullies, outlets for expression, handling family illness.