Genres
Publication
Candlewick (2011), Edition: 1, 224 pages
Description
Thirteen-year-old Conor awakens one night to find a monster outside his bedroom window, but not the one from the recurring nightmare that began when his mother became ill--an ancient, wild creature that wants him to face truth and loss.
Awards
Soaring Eagle Book Award (Nominee — 2014)
Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award (Nominee — 2016)
LA Times Book Prize (Finalist — Young Adult Literature — 2011)
Georgia Children's Book Award (Finalist — Grades 6-8 — 2014)
Kentucky Bluegrass Award (Nominee — Grades 6-8 — 2013)
Bram Stoker Award (Nominee — Young Adult Novel — 2011)
Green Mountain Book Award (Nominee — 2014)
British Book Award (Winner — Children's Book — 2011)
Thumbs Up! Award (Honor — 2012)
Oregon Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — 2014)
Lincoln Award: Illinois Teen Readers' Choice Award (Nominee — 2015)
The Children's Book Award (Winner — Overall — 2012)
Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing (Nominee — 2012)
NCSLMA Battle of the Books (Middle School — 2020)
Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration (Nominee — 2012)
UKLA Book Award (Shortlist — 2012)
Westchester Fiction Award (Winner — 2012)
The Kitschies (Winner — 2011)
Isinglass Teen Read Award (Nominee — 2013)
Rhode Island Teen Book Award (Nominee — 2014)
Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (Winner — 2012)
Sakura Medal (Middle School — 2014)
Prix Imaginales (2013)
Europese Literatuurprijs (Longlist — 2014)
Prix Elbakin.net (2012)
Locus Recommended Reading (Young Adult Book — 2011)
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Top Ten — 2012)
CCBC Choices (2012)
Notable Children's Book (2012)
Nerdy Book Award (Young Adult Literature — 2011)
OYAN Book Rave (2012)
Texas Lone Star Reading List (2012)
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Kids (Fiction for Older Readers — 2011)
Original language
English
Original publication date
2011-05-05
Media reviews
"... it’s powerful medicine: a story that lodges in your bones and stays there."
“A Monster Calls” is a gift from a generous storyteller and a potent piece of art.
The power of this beautiful and achingly sad story for readers over the age of 12 derives not only from Mr. Ness's capacity to write heart-stopping prose but also from Jim Kay's stunning black-ink illustrations. There are images in these pages so wild and ragged that they feel dragged by their
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roots from the deepest realms of myth. Show Less
It's also an extraordinarily beautiful book. Kay's menacing, energetic illustrations and the way they interact with the text, together with the lavish production values, make it a joy just to hold in your hand. If I have one quibble, it is with a line in the introduction where Ness says the point
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of a story is to "make trouble". It seems to me he has done the opposite here. He's produced something deeply comforting and glowing with – to use a Siobhan Dowd word – solace. The point of art and love is to try to shortchange that grim tax collector, death. Ness, Dowd, Kay and Walker have rifled death's pockets and pulled out a treasure. Death, it seems, is no disqualification. Show Less
Physical description
224 p.; 6.75 inches
ISBN
0763655597 / 9780763655594