MONSTER MOVIE! - Chuck Wendig


 Ethan Pitowski is afraid of just about everything, so when he (along with the entire class) is invited to a classmate's house to watch a horror movie, Ethan isn't too keen on the idea - even though it is the most popular by in school. Ethan's friends, knowing of Ethan's fears, encourage him to attend anyway. It's hard for Ethan to say no to someone like Olivia.

But when Ethan shows up, the horror is far more than he could imagine in his worst nightmares! The movie is one that was once thought to be lost and is considered by every single person who's ever survived seeing it, as the scariest movie ever made! And the worst part is, it isn't just a movie - it is coming to life! The movie IS the monster and it's eating Ethan's friends ... or their heads, anyway - the rest of them seems just fine. But Olivia is missing and no matter how scared Ethan is, rescuing Olivia comes first.

In addition to finding his best friend, Ethan needs to find a way to stop the monster and rescue all his classmates - if that's even possible, considering their heads are gone. But he has to try. And it won't be easy since he's the boy who's afraid of everything up against the scariest movie ever made!

I am a big fan of Chuck Wendig's work. I think his adult horror novels are among the best dark fantasy/horror novels available today. And his YA series "Miriam Black" is phenomenal. Now he's writing for kids as well.  He's toned back his language and the darkness of his adult works and created a delightful 'horror' story for young readers. How horrific?  Think "Goosebumps." 

I was not a big fan of his previous young reader book - I thought that it was missing the 'edge' that makes Wendig so much fun to read. This book, however, has a nice balance of age appropriate horror combined with fun and characters that the target readers can identify with.

The search for Olivia gets a little long and redundant but I recognize that we're building up a reason for Ethan to stay focused and not run away in absolute fear. Young readers will likely enjoy his jumping from one scary incident to the next.

And - SPOLIER ALERT! - there's no need to worry about monsters eating people's heads. Everyone's okay. That's what makes it fun.

Looking for a good book? A good age-appropriate horror book for middle grade readers is Chuck Wendig's Monster Movie! 

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

* * * * * *

Monster Movie!

author: Chuck Wendig

publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

ISBN: 9780316572590

hardcover, 320 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

KIM STANLEY ROBINSON: APPRENTICESHIPS IN NARRATIVE - Andrew Rowcroft

Image
I am a sucker for anything by or about Kim Stanley Robinson. Since I first read The Gold Coast sometime in the late 1980's or early 90's; I haven't missed any of his books since. So, when I see a book about Robinson, or examining his work, I'm all in. What I don't like, is reading a research paper, a university-style thesis, posing as a book. In classic research paper tradition, we begin with an introduction that tells us what we are going to read. Chapter by chapter, taking up nearly 15% of the book's pages, author Andrew Rowcroft tells us what we're going to read in. In detail. With 114 endnotes. There are six chapters .... well, five chapters and a coda ... dealing with different aspects of Robinson's work. But first ... what does "Apprenticeships in Narrative" even mean? In his introduction, Rowcroft notes: "This book argues that one of the most striking aspects of Robinson’s fiction is his concern with literary apprenticeship." ...
Read more

STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS: ASYLUM - Una McCormack

Image
 Una Chin-Riley is the poster girl for Starfleet: smart, driven, and dedicated. She's a by-the-book student, not afraid to ask questions and to quote the manual when she thinks something is being done incorrectly.  And like all really good students, she's also active in extra-curricular activities.  She's often the lead in the Academy-produced opera and she has sympathies for displaced peoples and works with groups to help people seeking asylum. Christopher Pike is an ensign, having only recently graduated from the Academy, he's back at Starfleet waiting for a hearing for an incident during his short tenure on the ship.  He's asked to give a lecture to students ... he's closer in age to them  (compared to the usually retired people who lecture) and yet he's got actual starship experience. Pike takes a liking to Una, despite her being so by-the-book and his realizing 'the book' doesn't have all the answers out in space. 25 years later, Christopher...
Read more

LAW OF THE LAND - Elmer Kelton

Image
 In the 1950's (and a few decades prior) it was pretty easy to find and read some short western fiction if that was your literature of choice. There were scores of western pulps. Today, western readers are generally limited to a few publishers of western novels by a very few western writers. Law of the Land is a collection of short western fiction by Elmer Kelton, an author whose works have spanned many decades - from 1948 ("There's Always Another Chance" originally published in Ranch Romances ) to 2010 ("The Ghost of Two Forks" originally published in Ghost Towns , edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Russell Davis).  That's an incredible period of work for anyone! I enjoy reading western fiction (I think I'm among a dying breed) and enjoy short fiction, so a book like this is very much appreciated.  That said, everything included in this collection is very well written and an enjoyable read and at the same time, nothing here stands out as being excep...
Read more