Monsterland by James Crowley

G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 2017

ISBN-13: 978-0399175893

Available:  Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition

It’s Halloween, and Charlie Cooper is missing his best friend, Billy, who was lost in the river the previous year.  Too dispirited to trick-or-treat, he wanders into the woods, to hide out in an abandoned army base where they used to play. When he sees a figure that looks like Billy, he follows him through the base and into a graveyard he’s never noticed, down into a crypt that leads to a tunnel, and discovers that he has not been following his friend: he has followed a vampire, into Monsterland, an unmapped territory where the U.S. government has contained the world’s monsters. The vampire is Prime Minister of Monsterland, tasked with keeping the peace between all the factions and creatures. Learning that Charlie is looking for his “lost” friend, the Prime Minister sends him on a journey with Frankenstein’s Monster that will lead Charlie to a place where he might find Billy, if he’s lucky.

Charlie’s journey with the Monster is eventful, with kidnappings, near-drownings, robberies, and dramatic rescues. He meets various types of monsters, who are fascinated to find a live boy in their country.  While some characters are well-drawn, especially the Monster, Crowley spends several chapters at the beginning introducing Charlie, with the result that, while Crowley does some terrific world-building, the story is too jam-packed with action and new characters to do everything (and everyone) justice. The door is definitely left open for a sequel– there are many characters I wanted to know more about, and the overall idea that government budget cuts are undermining control of Monsterland is intriguing.

What is most interesting, and most fully developed, is Charlie’s relationship with the Monster, who is not just uninterested but actively hostile to the idea of traveling with Charlie. Charlie insists that nobody should be referred to as Monster or Creature all the time, and helps the Monster choose a name (the discussion, which involves his annoyance with Mary Shelley, leads to the Monster being named Franklin Prometheus), something that significantly changes their relationship. Watching them interact is one of the most interesting parts of the book.

I was bothered by the plot being driven by Charlie’s need to look for Billy. It is pretty clear from the very beginning of the book that Billy isn’t just lost, and I didn’t like that the Prime Minister and all the monsters encouraged Charlie’s magical thinking and the idea that Billy was tangible. Magical thinking is a part of grief you want children to work through, and Charlie is protected from having to do this. Crowley did a nice job of depicting Charlie’s grief before he entered Monsterland, but once there, the possibility of finding Billy made it an adventure.

I wouldn’t call this horror so much as a monster-laden fantasy adventure, but there is certainly potential for it to go darker if there is a sequel. It is a great choice for monster-loving kids. Recommended.