#tbt: The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

Image: Simon & Schuster

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey. 434 p. Simon & Schuster BFYR/ Simon & Schuster, September, 2009. 9781416984481. (Own.)

#tbt features The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey. This gothic horror novel is the diary of Will Henry, an orphan who was taken in by Dr. Pellinore Warthrup, pre-eminent monstrumologist. Will has to assist the fussy doctor in all manner and at all hours. When they are awakened late one night by a visitor bearing the body of a young girl with the monster that killed her still attached and still feeding one her, Will and Dr. Warthup's already dangerous occupation is about to get real. 

This book is definitely not for the faint of heart. It's grisly and suspenseful and better suited to a mature teen reader. If you are a fan of horror, The Monstumologist should fill the bill - sure to make you gasp and gag and possibly scream. It is the first of a four book series. The Monstrumologist was published in 2009 and named a 2010 Printz Honor book. The cover has changed over the years but my favorite happens to be the original, which I could only find on Wikipedia, so I took a picture of my first edition copy. 

Middle Grade Monday: Wrecking Ball by Jeff Kinney

Image: Abrams

Wrecking Ball by Jeff Kinney. Diary of a Wimpy Kid #14. 224 p. Amulet Books/ Abrams, November, 2019. 9781419739033. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Middle Grade Monday features Wrecking Ball by Jeff Kinney. Yes, Greg and the Hefley family are back in book fourteen of a series that is still going strong and quite popular at TMS. The Hefleys find out that they've inherited some money from an aunt they hardly knew. After attending the wrong funeral, they collect their check and decide to renovate their home. Greg, of course has big dreams about all the luxurious amenities. Anyone who has lived through a home renovation knows it can be a headache at best and a nightmare at worst. Three couples I knew got divorced shortly after their own renovations! 

I guess I am mentally stuck at age eleven because I find this series hilarious. Sure, some are better than others, but Greg is so humorously self-centered. I will continue buying them and reading them as long as my students' interest remains high. That shows no sign of flagging.

Waiting on Wednesday: Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson's Journal by Jeff Kinney

Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson's Journal by Jeff Kinney. 224 p. Amulet Books/ Abrams, April 9, 2019. 9781419740275.

Publisher synopsis: Get ready for a whole new look into Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid! Introducing the newest Wimpy Kid author—Rowley Jefferson! Rowley’s best friend Greg Heffley has been chronicling his middle-school years in thirteen Diary of a Wimpy Kid journals . . . and counting. But it’s finally time for readers to hear directly from Rowley in a journal of his own. In Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid, Rowley writes about his experiences and agrees to play the role of biographer for Greg along the way. (After all, one day Greg will be rich and famous, and everyone will want to know his life’s story.) But Rowley is a poor choice for the job, and his “biography” of Greg is a hilarious mess. Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson’s Journal offers readers a new way to look at the Wimpy world—one fans won’t want to miss!

This should be fun! 

ETA: I scheduled this post two Wednesdays ago. Later that day, a newsletter from Abrams popped into my email with a link to this cute trailer. 

Teen Tuesday: Thornhill by Pam Smy

Thornhill by Pam Smy. 544 p. Roaring Brook Press, August, 2017. 9781626726543. (Review from purchased finished copy)

If you enjoy graphic novel hybrids or gothic horror, check out our Teen Tuesday feature. Thornhill by Pam Smy. Two stories are told in this debut, one in pictures and one in prose. The pictures take place in the present time and the prose is the diary of a girl who resided at Thornhill back in the days when it was an orphanage. It's a boarded up dilapidated wreck now but Ella, who has just moved in across the street spies a girl in the upstairs window and, because she is lonely, investigates.

This one is dark, creepy and disturbing. Dread grows as the diary entries unfold and the visual story is equally suspenseful, helped along by the tones of black and shadows. Atmospheric and a perfect choice to lure a dormant reader.

Audiobook Review: See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng

See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng. Unabridged audiobook on 5 compact discs; 6 hours, 10 minutes. Performed by Kivlighan de Montebello and a full cast. Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group, February, 2017. 978152470008. (Review from purchased copy.)

See You in the Cosmos is the "transcript" of the golden iPod recordings of eleven-year-old (older in responsibility age) Alex Petrosky. Alex lives with his mother in Colorado and supported long-distance by a much older brother who lives in LA. His father died when Alex was very young. He is obsessed with space and Carl Sagan. He even named the dog he convinced his uninvolved, apparently mentally ill mother (she has "quiet days") to keep, Carl Sagan. He has built a rocket, which he hopes to launch in New Mexico at SHARF, Southwest High-Altitude Rocket Festival. Alex plans on loading these iPod recordings onto his rocket and send it into space the way the Voyager II rockets did in 1977. 

He has planned the trip with precision - purchased a train ticket, cooked and labeled all the meals his mom would need and packed for the weekend. What he hadn't planned on was the need to be sixteen to travel alone on the train. The ticket agent doesn't buy his responsibility years but a free-spirited young man, wearing a backpack, offers to pose as his big brother in order to get Alex and Carl Sagan on the train. 

Alex is bright, open, innocent and filled with curiosity. He is also preternaturally competent as the reader infers this from his offhand comments about his unusual home life. He really is suffering from neglect and social services should've been called a long time ago.

The best thing about this audiobook is that Alex is voiced by a kid! Finally! Even though there are a handful of adult narrators who can pull off a kid narrator, it sure was refreshing to hear a real live kid do the job. I hope there are more audiobook narrations in Kivlighan de Montebello's future. He is a terrific actor/ narrator. He really brings Alex to vivid life.

Belief needs to be suspended big-time here for as much as Alex planned, lots and lots of things go wrong for him. He is far too trusting, and lucky. Or not, poor Carl Sagan. And the adults he runs into have a few screws loose, harmless, thankfully; they possess no real sense of responsibility or common sense. But, it makes for quite the road trip and, somehow, works.

I am glad I chose to read it with my ears because I think the audio format, with its multiple narrators and sound effects, is perfect. The structure was unique and Alex is a winning character. 

Give this quirky book to kids who like sad books with a spunky main character and to kids who, like Alex, are interested in astronomy in general, or the Voyager rockets in particular. It's the 40th anniversary of the launch of the two Voyager rockets. This book reminded me that I had another book to read on the old tbr pile. I thought the two would make for a terrific fiction/ non-fiction pairing - Voyager's Greatest Hits: the epic trek to interstellar space by Alexandra Siy. Look for the review tomorrow.