Monster Maker: The Strange Creatures of Mark Nagata

Lion Head charges into Melted Candle Man! GAOO! Chicken Head swoops down and thrashes Lion Head! GUCHYA! The monster battle rages on! GASHAN! These kaiju, Japanese creatures delivered as toys to a nine-year-old boy one Christmas day from relatives in Japan, became the catalyst for artist and toymaker Mark Nagata's career. This is the story of his journey from budding artist to world-renowned Japanese toymaker! When Mark Nagata was nine years old, he received a Christmas package in his California home all the way from relatives in Japan. Inside the package, Mark found brightly colored plastic toys. What amazed Mark about these toys was how different they were from his own action figures, being so brightly colored with shimmering, unrecognizable writing on the boxes. It didn't matter that Mark didn't understand the writing. After conjuring up names for each figure, it was clear that it was love at first sight! Monster Maker: The Strange Creatures of Mark Nagata is a biographical account of toy designer, painter, illustrator, and collector Mark Nagata. From a very young age, Mark was a fan of many classic comic book series, movies and toys. It was the introduction to classic Japanese television shows that truly sparked his creativity, which ultimately led to his success as a toymaker, most specifically kaiju toys. Kaiju translates to strange creature but has since come to mean large monster in Japanese. Mark bases his toy design and artwork on this type of creature and his work has flourished into an important and well-recognized art form in the United States and around the world. Author Debbi Michiko Florence provides a note at the end of the story explaining her connection to Mark Nagata's work, a connection that stems from a visit to the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, where she experienced the exhibit Kaiju vs. Heroes: Mark Nagata's Journey Through the World of Toys. She became so enthralled with the exhibit and Mark Nagata's process of creating the toys that she was even invited to his home to see the process firsthand. This additional information on the process by which the toys are created complements the story very well for the reader.

Author: Debbi Michiko Florence
Publisher: Reycraft Books
Published: 11/11/2025
Pages: 40
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 10.10h x 10.30w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9781478890638


Review Citation(s):
School Library Journal 10/01/2025 pg. 88
Booklist 11/01/2025

About the Author
Ai Takita, Inko: - Inko Ai Takita is a distinguished manga artist from Japan currently living in the United Kingdom. Her published manga, including Tale Of Genji Manga Edition, and the award-winning Portrait of Violence, have been critically acclaimed. Her illustrative contributions to the online theatre Flight Paths earned recognition at the Superfest Disability Film Festival 2021.Florence, Debbi Michiko: - Debbi Michiko Florence is the author of more than 25 books for young people, including the Jasmine Toguchi chapter book series. A third-generation Japanese American, Debbi grew up in Los Angeles and loved watching TV shows and movies of Ultraman and Godzilla as a child. Today, she lives in Connecticut with her husband and two rescue dogs, and has a growing collection of Mark Nagata's kaiju.