The Boy Who Made Monsters

I was totally captivated and invested in this heart wrenching and heart-warming wonderful story from Jenny Pearson, The Boy Who Made Monsters. Having read her previous, amazing books , I knew I was in for plenty of adventure, fun and a roller coaster of emotions along the way. Jenny Pearson excels in tackling big emotions and topics on behalf on her MG readers. Family traumas, losses and mental health topics are all explored sensitively, gently and always with a careful cushion of genuine humour, warmth and downright laugh-out-loud moments within a madcap riot of adventure.

In a story of courage, loss and facing up to painful truths but keeping your hope in life, we meet grieving 11-year-old Ben and older brother Stanley. The boys are off to live with estranged Uncle Hamish in the wilds of Scotland in Loch Lochy. Traumatised in very different ways by the recent loss of parents who have been "missing" for months, the boys find that they have a summer ahead of facing monsters - real, literal, imaginary and mythical.

Ben and Stanley find that Loch Lochy holiday homes are failing. Feeling a whole new connection to the place that was their father's childhood home means that Ben, always determined to believe in the unlikely, is on a mission to find a Loch monster and bring tourists back in their droves . If he can't find a monster? Well, not one to give up his hope yet, he will just create one of his very own…

There follows some madcap monster mayhem as Ben and his new friend, feisty and prickly Murdy McGurdy, go on adventures full of monster hunting and staged 'sightings'. The crazy schemes of the duo are delightful - a real sense of fun and suitably childishly daft plans is created and this is the charm and warmth that allows the author to support her readers to empathise with the emotions and traumas of the characters without becoming overwhelmed negatively. Katie Kear's wonderful illustrations add to the liveliness and enjoyment of the story - I loved the drawings of the canine costumes searched for online and for Mr Dog in particular.

All of the characters grip the reader emotionally throughout the story. The journey of Ben and Stanley as brothers learning to reconnect with each other is just beautifully explored and I almost held my breath at some scenes, watching the strained relationship unfold and begin to thaw. The aching grief of all of them reaches out to the reader and some scenes are heart-achingly sad, powerfully moving, yet always threaded through with love and a strong sense of family ultimately pulling together and finding strength in each other to move through the traumas and create a future that always, always contains hope and a vision for happiness, however different that may look for them all. This is such a touching, fun and fabulous story.

272 pages / Reviewed by Jennifer Caddick, teacher

Suggested Reading Age 9+