A Monster Calls in Mock Printz 2026

Apr 25, 2011 Crowinator rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: childrens-middle-grade, genre-fantasy, favorites-2011, arc-print, 2011-reads, a-good-cry, ya, other-monsters, favorites-of-all-time, illustrated

It's a good thing I read this at home, because that kind of crying is best done in private. It'll take a while for me to process this beautiful, horrible, heart-breaking, life-affirming book enough to write a review, however inadequate it will inevitably be. For now, find a softly lit, comfortable, quiet place to read this (it will only take a few hours, though its impact will last far longer) and don't forget the tissues.

ETA: Patrick Ness just posted the German book trailer for A Monster Calls ...more

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Dec 13, 2011 Jan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: teenbooks, fantasy

This is a powerful story about coming to terms with loss, told with amazing illustrations and allegory. There is great humor and anger commingled in this novel about a thirteen-year-old boy named Patrick whose mother is dying of cancer. Patrick also has to cope with a couple of school bullies. He copes by imagining a yew tree in his yard has turned into a monster and is pursuing him, bent upon teaching Patrick some difficult lessons about life, in the form of three stories. The fourth story is P ...more

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Nov 29, 2013 Christina Getrost rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

A beautiful, touching story; I could have put it in the Realistic Fiction shelf because other than the monster, it really is a realistic look at what happens to family members of cancer victims. Conor is having a hard time with the fact that his mother is dying from cancer; his divorced father is living in America with his new family and seems to be neglecting his only son; and at school he is just going through the motions, with classmates and teachers who treat him differently now that they kn ...more

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Jun 03, 2011 Liz rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-star

When my book club selected A Monster Calls, I was unsure of what to expect. All I’d really heard about it was that it was good. Now when I look at the summary of this book, it gives me chills up and down my books. A Monster Calls stirred fear and sadness within me, and has made me want to pick up everything else written by Patrick Ness and Siobhan Dowd.

If you haven’t already, go find a finished copy of A Monster Calls. It’s actually an illustrated book, which means that illustrations are embedde ...more

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Sep 29, 2011 Bethany Miller rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1st-choice-books

Most kids would be frightened by a monster showing up outside their window in the middle of the night, but not Conor. Conor is not scared of the monster (that he knows is probably a dream anyway) because he has much worse things to fear – THE nightmare that terrifies him so much that he refuses to tell anyone about it…not his mother who is getting sicker every day, not his father who is busy with his new family, and certainly not his grandmother who keeps trying to talk to him about what will ha ...more

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Apr 19, 2011 Jess rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: juv, young-adult, illustrated-novels

I was expecting emotional intensity and some brilliance (remember this is the man who brought us The Knife of Never Letting Go, which is also emotionally intense and absolutely brilliant) but I wasn't quite sure what form it would take. This is a much sparer story than the Chaos Walking trilogy, which was actually a relief and, I think, one of the story's strengths.

The dialogue is also perfectly spare - the characters leave so much out and say so much more by doing so. The mythological and fair ...more

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Oct 04, 2012 Renee rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-fantasy, ya-realistic, ya-thriller

4.5 I haven't cried this hard when reading a book in quite some time...the illustrations were fantastic, very moving story. This may be a book that librarians/adults enjoy more than teens...I think a mature/deep thinking middle schooler/teen would like the book. ...more

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Aug 04, 2016 Dana Berglund rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: youngadult, kids, booksintomovies

Beautiful and terrible, predictable and unexpected, and just brilliant. A mess of contradictions, just like us flawed humans.

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May 11, 2011 Danielle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kids, ya, weepy, arc

Incredible, incredible book.
But SO sad. I cried myself to sleep after reading this.

Already warned that maaaybe my motherless self shouldn't read this one, but I love Patrick Ness so much I'm going to push on through the inevitable weeping. ...more

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