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13 Years of Monster Librarian!

Read to Survive!

Winter break is just about over, and it’s been so busy here that I missed announcing the anniversary of Monster Librarian! Our original site went live on January 1, 2006, just three months after the Monster Kid made his entrance into this world. I mean, why not add a brand new book review website to the mix when you already have your hands full with a baby? That image above is our first logo (and my favorite), designed by Dave May.

We’re looking forward to Women in Horror Month and the upcoming Stoker nominations this spring, and the new Summer Scares pilot summer reading program debuting this year.  I’d love to know what you’d like to see more of from us, because time is precious, both yours and mine.

I’m also really hoping this will be the year you make a contribution to Monster Librarian. We are advertisement free, and you can trust our content’s integrity. We are an Amazon affiliate, but either folks are not clicking on those book covers in our reviews and making purchases through the site or Amazon’s algorithm has decided not to credit us for the sale. While our hosting fees are covered for now, paying to keep the site up is a recurring issue. You can just click on that “Contribute” button in the top right hand box at the top of this page and make a contribution through Paypal to keep us going. Note that Monster Librarian is not a nonprofit, so it’s not tax deductible, but your five bucks makes a difference in whether we can keep going. I know it’s a tragedy to skip your caffiene fix (I was in a coffee shop yesterday where the small “signature” latte was five dollars on the dot, I kid you not) but your sacrifice of your vanilla honey amaretto latte will be deeply appreciated here.

Is there something you’d like to see, or like to see more of here? Shoot me an email at monsterlibrarian@monsterlibrarian.com and let me know your thoughts. Here’s hoping for a monstrously lucky thirteenth year for both Monster Librarian and all of you!

Posted on January 7, 2019 by , Reply

Musings: A Ghost Story That Isn’t A Ghost Story: Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

Atheneum, 2017

ISBN-13: 978-1481438254

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

 

Fifteen-year-old Will’s brother Shawn has just been shot and killed by a member of a local gang. Will knows the rules: don’t cry, don’t snitch, and if someone you love gets killed, find the person who killed them and kill that person. Grieving and angry, he pries open a stuck drawer in his brother’s dresser and takes the loaded gun hidden inside so he can take his revenge. Will lives on the top floor of his apartment building, though, and he has to take the elevator down… and it’s a long way down, because on every floor, Will is forced to face the consequences of living with the rules, and of shooting to kill.

There is absolutely nothing about this book’s front, back, or inside cover that suggests that it is a ghost story.  It is dedicated to teens in detention centers. I didn’t have a clue what it was about when I initially picked it up, I just had read good things about Jason Reynolds and knew the book had won a number of awards, including the Newbery Honor (not sure how I feel about that– the audience for the Newbery is children up to age 14, and Will is 15– this is really YA). But in describing it to my mom, who has an interest in teens and gun violence, I had to explain to her that Will is confronted by ghosts while he is trapped in the elevator(ghosts are a turnoff for her).  Will’s “ghosts” aren’t very ghostly, though, which is one of the things that makes them so disorienting– Will is never quite sure whether they are alive or dead at first.

Long Way Down is a verse novel. There are frequent line breaks and plenty of white space on the page. The language is spare and powerful. Reynolds strips down feelings like grief, shame, anger, and sadness to the essentials by limiting how he puts words down on each page. Despite the pared-down text, Reynolds manages to draw the characters of Will’s ghosts with enough detail and emotional impact that readers will invest in discovering their relationships. Reynolds hasn’t written a horror story here, but it is a gripping and horrific story illustrating how this vicious cycle repeats, and the ambiguous ending is dread-inducing and heart-stopping. Highly recommended for middle, high school, and public libraries, and for readers 14-adult.

Note: Long Way Down has won a Newbery Honor Award, Coretta Scott King Honor Award, a Printz Honor Award, and is a National Book Award finalist.

Posted on December 21, 2018 by , Reply

Book Review: Everdead by Rio Youers

Everdead by Rio Youers

Audible Studios, 2013

ASIN: B00CPAMSY4

Available: Audiobook, MP3 CD

 

Luca, a nomadic vampire, is being pursued by the ancient original vampires. He finds himself on the beach front resort island of San Antonio,  where youths around the world come to drink, dance, and party.   Two vacationing partiers, Toby and Cass, come across Luca as he kills a young girl.  Furious at the interruption, Luca hunts down the couple to exact revenge.  

While Youers goes into Luca’s origin tale, he doesn’t try to paint him as a sympathetic victim. Rather, Youers shows Luca as a man who hounds another vampire to turn him, knowing full well that he will have to kill people to survive.   Youers does a good job of fleshing out the character of Toby, who has finally overcome his insecurities in approaching girls to finally meet Cass.  Everdead is a competently written vampire tale. It is currently not available in print format but is available in audiobook format.

Posted on December 14, 2018 by , Reply
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