Monsters [Oct 22, 2013] Hoban, Russell and Blake, Quentin - Softcover

Russell Hoban is the author of many famous novels, including Turtle Diary and Riddley Walker, which won the John W. Campbell Award for science fiction. He also wrote over 50 children's books, including such classics as The Mouse and His Child, The Sea-Thing Child, The Twenty Elephant Restaurant, Jim's Lion, Soonchild and, most recently, Rosie's Magic Horse. Born in Pennsylvania in 1925, he moved in 1969 to London, where he lived until his death in 2011. Quentin Blake is one of the world's foremost illustrators, particularly renowned for his collaboration with writers such as Russell Hoban, Michael Rosen, Joan Aiken and Roald Dahl. His books have won numerous awards, including the Whitbread Prize, the Kate Greenaway Medal and the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration. In 1999 he was appointed the first Children's Laureate, in 2005 was created a CBE and in 2013 received a knighthood for his services to illustration. He lives in South West London. Find Quentin online at www.quentinblake.com and on Twitter as @QuentinBlakeHQ.

John likes to draw scary monsters. When he appears to be starting a drawing of a particularly large one (the tail alone fills an entire sheet of wrapping paper), his parents become concerned. Mr. Splodge, the art teacher, thinks John's drawings are first-rate. Dr. Plunger takes the matter lightly at first, allowing John to finish the drawing. From the waiting room, his mother and father hear a noise like "two or three heavy metal rock bands all playing at once." John emerges quite content, and readers glimpse claws and eyeballs just behind the door. While adults may find this a rather gruesome ending for unsuspecting Dr. Plunger, youngsters will find the story quite satisfying and will undoubtedly relate to John's preoccupation with monsters. Children will return again and again to Blake's childlike drawings complete with monsters eating, zapping, and clobbering each other. The remainder of the humorous ink and watercolor illustrations effectively characterize the concerned parents and their seemingly innocent child. An offbeat, sophisticated story reminiscent of the Zemachs' The Judge (Farrar, 1969) or one of Roald Dahl's zany cautionary tales. --Pearl Herscovitch, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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