A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Publisher: Walker Books
Amazon Link: A Monster Calls
Synopsis: The monster showed up after midnight. As they do.
But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting. He’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming…
This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.It wants the truth.
Review: This book wasn't at all what I was expecting. When I picked it up I thought it would be just a children's book about monsters, but it ends up being so much more than that. It's a heart-wrenching story of a boy whose mother is dying of cancer, and there's nothing he can do for her.

It’s told from a child's perspective and I think this makes the story even more effective. He doesn't exactly understand what the adult characters are feeling which can sometimes make him seem a bit selfish, but I think this makes the story seem all the more real.

The pictures in the book are utterly breath taking. They're all in black and white and really add to a story, which was already great to begin with. The book is short but the story that's written on those pages is more amazing than some novels that are considerably longer.

I'm not sure that I could ever read it to my child but for a teenager I think this book is perfectly written and can really teach people about human nature.

Stars
★★★★★