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Book Review: Monsterland by James Crowley

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.

Musings: The Dark Fantastic: Race and Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas

The Dark Fantastic: Race and Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas

NYU Press, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-1479800650

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition

 

In today’s networked world, much of children’s and young adult literature isn’t limited to one reader’s immersion in the pages of a book. Authors’ worlds are reimagined in other media formats, and re-enacted, discusses, and reinvented in communities of fans of the stories. Yet, even within these imagined worlds, not everyone can find a mirror that reflects their experiences, and characters of color are often stereotyped and marginalized instead of centered. Ebony Elizabeth Thomas calls this the “imagination gap” and suggests that this may be one reason children of color may choose not to read.  In The Dark Fantastic, Thomas takes an intersectional approach, using”critical race counterstorytelling” to center four girls of color from television and movies based on children’s and young adult fiction that have developed fandoms: Rue, from The Hunger Games, Bonnie, from The Vampire Diaries; Gwen, from Merlin; and Angelina Johnson, from Harry Potter. Thoma uses an autoethnographic approach to explore her perspectives on these as an academic, a participant in fan communities, a reader, a watcher, and a person of color, at a variety of ages.

Thomas explains that the role of darkness in speculative fiction, or the “fantastic” is to disturb and unsettle. Even if initially there was a different reason why darkness represented a frightening or monstrous unknown Other, it’s now inextricably bound up with our thinking about race.  She defines the cycle of the “dark fantastic”, which can always be found in fantastic and horror fiction: spectacle, hesitation, violence, haunting, and, finally, emancipation. It is rare to see a dark-skinned hero, or emancipated character, meaning readers of color looking to identify with characters like themselves get the message, at least on some level, that they are the monster. Centering characters that are the “dark other” in the fantastic and placing them in unexpected roles leads to readers and fans challenging or rejecting the representations, especially once the story has been been reimagined on the screen where everyone can see what before was just in one person’s imagination.

Thomas chose to center her narratives on characters that are not centered in the texts they appear in . She explored the representations of these characters onscreen and in the texts the screen versions were based on, and the reactions of fan communities, like the outrage at the casting of mixed-race actress Amandla Sternberg as Rue in The Hunger Games, despite author Suzanne Collins indicating in the text that Rue had dark skin, or at the casting of mixed-race actress Angel Coulby as Guinivere in Merlin, since according to many, she didn’t have the “legendary beauty” expected of Arthur’s queen.  The “imagination gap” here is pretty clear. Too many people simply weren’t prepared to accept these mixed-race actresses as innocent or beautiful, and missed out on the essential meaning of these characters or enjoyment of the story.  The exploration of the treatment of Bonnie Bennett of The Vampire Diaries is interesting, because in the books, the character is named Bonnie McCullough and is a redheaded Irish witch from a line of druids who has a relationship with a major love interest.  On the television show, her background was completely revised and she ended up as a much less sympathetic character, taking a much smaller role. Even in horror, with vampires as major characters, a girl of color still ended up as the “dark other”.

Thomas argues in favor of consciously intervening to change culture. Publishers, reviewers, booksellers, librarians, educators, and marketers need to recognize the parts they do play and can play in bringing new stories and diverse talents to readers and audiences in order to close the “imagination gap” and open up what Thomas calls “infinite storyworlds”.

The way Thomas linked literature to other media and both individual and networked fandom has given me a new way to think about fantastic literature and media adaptations, and the way fans and fan creators connect with them– or don’t (This essay by Laurie Penny, which I just discovered, gives additional context and dimensionality to Thomas’ ideas). It also provides lot of food for thought as regards centering characters that are usually on the margins, and the way the construction of darkness in fiction may be affecting reading motivation.  As Thomas notes, things in the world of children’s and young adult transmedia are changing faster than they were, in part due to the spread of technology that allows more input from collective audiences and fandoms, and diversity is increasing. I look forward to the time when we will start to see the imagination gap lessen, and more minds open to opportunities for storytelling that reflect multiple representations.

This is essential reading for scholars of children’s and young adult literature and media, but Thomas’ cycle of the dark fantastic applies across all fantastic literature and media, and if you are interested in how race, technology, and imagination are intersecting and playing out in our culture, this does a very good job of providing a framework for understanding.  While she didn’t read it cover-to-cover, my 11 year old daughter is still talking about ideas she encountered in this book, which says a lot about its relevance, originality, and accessibility. Highly recommended.

 

Book Review: Touch of Gold by Annie Sullivan

Touch of Gold by Annie Sullivan

Blink, 2018

ISBN-13: 978-0310766353

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, Audiobook, Audio CD

 

I’m a sucker for fairy tale reimaginings, from dark to modern, from Fables to Tanith Lee. Touch of Gold touches on a story I haven’t seen a lot–  the tale of King Midas.

Kora is King Midas’ daughter. Curses run in their family line, from the superstition (possible curse) that made her father king, to the famous Golden Touch. Kora herself, who was turned to gold, and, in this tale, later transformed back, retains tell-tale marks of the curse (as does her father).

Midas can no longer turn things to gold, but he still suffers from a magical obsession with gold, particularly with the handful of relics he turned before the curse was altered to bring Kora back. Kora still retains odd powers and a golden gleam to her skin. When the artifacts Midas originally turned to gold are stolen, Kora sets off to hunt them down and save her kingdom.

While most of the twists are clear, I really enjoyed this tale. The author keeps the tale serious and meaningful, while also painting a vivid new fairy tale land. And there are lots of pirates, including the sinister Captain Skulls.

Kora is conflicted, but determined and courageous.  She struggles with issues of social propriety and the role she is called on to fulfill versus the one she wants to take. She struggles with what it means to be a proper ruler and do what is best for her kingdom, while also protecting her father. The book lays out an enjoyable tale from a familiar map.

Fairy tale fans will find this book to have delightful hints of Robin McKinley and Jane Austen. Recommended for public library collections. Ages 11+.

Contains: violence and some gore

 

Reviewed by Michele Lee