Today I have for you two stories of monsters that, while taking readers along on adventures to solve murders, also ask them to question who the real monsters are.

Between Monsters and Marvels by Alyssa Wishingrad. HarperCollins, 2023. ISBN 978-0063244870.  Read from a library copy. 10/15/23

Everyone on the island of Barrow’s Bay seemed to love Dare Coats’ mild-mannered father as much as they hate Dare herself.   Her father, the official monster hunter, never pushes back against those who argue that since no monsters have been seen in a century, they no longer need a monster hunter.  Dare, of course, picks fights with anyone who says he’s useless – until he dies under highly suspicious circumstances that could be either human or monster. Her mother quickly remarries the wealthy town mayor, who promptly burns all of Dare’s father’s papers.  And when Dare insists on investigating, she is shipped off to the dirty city on the mainland to live with her aunt, who lives in the  formerly popular theater she once starred in.  Once there, a still determined Dare finds herself struggling to know who to trust and where to look for more answers to her questions.  Can she trust her aunt’s loyal servant? The street urchin who turns up to help whenever she’s lost?  Or the owner of the rival theater across town who says he was friends with her father?  

This book contains a wonderfully dark Edwardian atmosphere, complete with a secret society, an old sailor with a mysterious background, striking factory workers, a child theater star, an adorable and cuddly animal of indeterminate breed and origin, a murder mystery, and a prickly heroine who is set on figuring things out for herself, no matter what anyone tells her.  It has larger themes of the power of stories to shape beliefs, and what happens when traditional stories are challenged.  

Don’t Want to Be Your Monster by Deke Moulton. Read by Davin Babulal and Noah Beemer. Tundra Books, 2023. ISBN 978-1774880494. Listened to audiobook on Libby.

Mom and Mama try to keep life as normal as possible for 10-year-old Adam, his 14-year-old brother Victor, and their college-age older sib.  But things are not really normal for a family that is awake only at night, keeping windows tightly shuttered and the driveway concealed with branches during the day. Adam enjoys their homeschooling lessons and knows the stories of all their siblings, but is still frightened by the possibility of vampire hunters.  Victor, on the other hand, feels overly confined and wants to spend more time learning the “cool vampire stuff” their moms aren’t teaching them.  Even their meals come home in plastic tubes, carefully selected and siphoned by Mom, a phlebotomist. (Mama, a healer in times when vampires were more accepted, now works as an astronomer at the university.)

The two boys used to get along, but lately things have been rough.  One night, Victor sneaks Adam out to see a late-night showing of the “classic” (I feel old now) vampire movie “The Lost Boys”, conflict breaks out.  Victor wants to practice his skills by convincing the ticket vendor they’re old enough to get in; Adam is worried about the exposure.  Then, on the way home, they pass a bloody murder scene – and then learn that it’s part of a string of killings.  Adam is horrified and wants to help; Victor, with significant trauma around the mortals from his own past, doesn’t think the mortals deserve it.  But Adam feels strongly enough that he’s willing to sneak out, and in doing so, meets some mortal kids his own age who also want to find the murderer.  He might be able to help them – if he can do so without revealing his secret to them, and while keeping them a secret from his family.  

This is on the surface an homage to the campy vampire horror films of the past, and has plenty of fun scenes of the kids jumping through trees, but there’s a lot of nuance underneath. It ties the hatred of vampires in with antisemitism and other blind prejudice, subtly at first, but with growing strength, while still telling a taut and character-centered story.  This was so good, y’all!  My own kid isn’t into scary books enough to want to read it, but I passed the audiobook on to my love, who’s also enjoying it. 

For more monstrous middle grade reads, try Let the Monster Out by Chad Lucas, Secret of the Shadow Beasts by Diane Magras, The Monsters of Rookhaven by Pádraig Kenny, and The Magnificent Monsters of Cedar Street by Lauren Oliver.

These books have been nominated for the Cybils award.  These reviews reflect my opinion, not that of the Cybils committee.