Meet the Monsters

Meet The Monsters By Jane Yolen Book reviewer Jake age nine Meet the Monsters is another one of Yolen's masterpieces. If you like monsters you definitely will get curled up with these fictional monsters right away. This book was one the most fun books I have read. It's all about different kinds of monsters that might hide in people's nightmares such as werewolves, Medusa, mummies, yeti's, sphinxes, golems, Frankenstein, the Loch Ness Monster, and vampires. And descriptions like " you can always scare a vampire by wearing a necklace of garlic or eating garlic. Of course garlic will scare away your friends too which is fine if one of them happens to be a vampire''. Read Jane Yolen's great descriptions of the monsters followed by terrific illustrations. You will not find a better book to learn about monsters. I would recommend this book ages seven and up because some descriptions are a bit scary and confusing.

My 5 year old son loves this book. He brought it to school with him and it was all he and his friends could talk about. The monsters are scarey, but it does tell how to get rid of them, which is very important to the younger set. I think my son was also fascinated by the stories behind the monsters. At his age he knows only some of these by name and few by reputation. It actually took the edge off of some of the monsters. Fear of the unknown is worse than fear of the known. The variety of monsters, not just halloween favorites, was also a plus. The Loch Ness monster, the Sphinx, Medusa are each a perfect jumping off spot to talk about geography or history. I found it fun too.

This review is aimed towards teachers and librarians. Meet the Monsters by Jane Yolen and her daughter Heidi Stemple might actually be scary to 3rd graders because of the vivid illustrations, but fifth graders are delighted - the scarier the better. The authors collaborated on the book through the Internet via e-mail rather than working together in person, and I think the idea of that kind of collaboration is an important way to illustrate yet another use for the Net. Unusual for a picture book, it has a bibliography. Students can use their card or electronic catalog to search for books on the bibliography and hopefully grasp the idea of research as a skein of knowledge. Finally, the presentation of monsters from so many different cultures can lead to other folktales or research on a specific monster as well as the creation of new monster stories. Like so many of Jane Yolen's books, Meet the Monsters touches on human emotions, fear and humor. Her inclusion of monster fighting methods can also provide discussion of how one does protect oneself in a scary world.