Monsters

Troubletwisters: The Monster

The spectacular new middle-grade fantasy series from bestselling authors Garth Nix and Sean Williams. Are you a troubletwister? Jaide and Jack Shield have a secret. When they’re unexpectedly sent to live with their mysterious Grandma X, they’re thrust into a world where cats talk and strange weather comes out of nowhere. There they learn that they’re troubletwisters, with powers they must use to stop the Evil from taking over our world. Before, they’d defeated the Evil through luck and intuition. Now though, Jaide and Jack will have to learn how to use their powers, and how to keep on their toes when evil forces return.

Monsters Aren’t Real

Beaten down by a ubiquitous chorus of denials (see title), a monster suffers an existential crisis.

Surrounded by emphatic claims that it doesn’t even exist, a monster sets out not only to prove the contrary, but to establish its scariness credentials too. Alas, neither blasting the world with graffiti and printed fliers nor rearing up menacingly over a baby in a carriage, children at the barre in a ballet class and other supposedly susceptible victims elicits any response. Juggling some cows attracts attention but not the terrified kind. But the monster’s final despairing surrender—“That’s it! It’s over! I give up! … /  Monsters aren’t real (sniff)”—triggers an indignant denial of a different sort from a second, smaller but wilder-looking, creature. It takes the first in hand and leads it off, declaring “We’re two big, strong, scary monsters, and we’ll prove it.” In truth, it won’t escape even very young readers that neither is particularly scary-looking. Indeed, the protagonist-monster is depicted in the sparsely detailed cartoon illustrations as a furry, almost cuddly, bearlike hulk with light-blue spots, antlers and comically googly eyes, certain to provoke more giggles than screams.

The Scariest Thing Of All

Pip the rabbit may be little.  But the list of things he’s afraid of is very, very large.  Life the gobbler…or the wood troll…or the leggy wiggler!  Until one day, Pip gets lost in the woods and is forced to face his fears.  What is the Scariest Thing of All?  And can little Pip stand up to it?

From the beloved author and illustrator of No Matter What comes a reassuring and gentle tale of finding bravery in the most unexpected place–inside yourself.

The Baby That Roared

Mr. and Mrs. Deer have alwats wanted a baby, so they are delighted when a little antlered bundle appears on their doorstep one day.  But the babywon’t stop roaring!  Family and friends come to help, sending Mr. and Mrs. Deer in search of what the baby needs.  But it’s very particular:  everytime Mr. and Mrs. Deer return, someone is missing–and the baby is still roaring! Where did everybody go–and just what kind of baby is this?

The Waking: Spirits of the Noh

Kara Foster is finally starting to fit in at her boarding school in Japan—after all, nothing bonds you with your classmates like having an ancient demon put a curse on you. Hoping life can go back to normal now that the demon has been put to rest, Kara joins her friends Sakura and Miho in putting on a play for the Noh drama club. It’s the story of the Hannya, a snake demon who inhabits the body of a beautiful woman. When a few members of the Noh club go missing, Kara fears that the real Hannya has been awakened by the curse. Then Miho is abducted, and Kara must find her before the Hannya destroys her. But the demon is wily, and may be hidden in the last place any of them would think to look.

The Monster In The Mattress And Other Stories / El Monstruo En El Colchon Y Otros Cuentos

A bilingual collection of short mystery stories for intermediate readers.

Tailypo: A Newfangled Tall Tale

On a farm in the Texas Hill Country, a young boy confronts a strange critter that tries to steal his family’s last meal. A variation on the folktale about a monster that leaves its tail behind in the cabin of an African American boy.