A Monster Calls

The #1 New York Times bestseller

An unflinching, darkly funny, and deeply moving story of a boy, his seriously ill mother, and an unexpected monstrous visitor.

At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting - he's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It's ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth. From the final idea of award-winning author Siobhan Dowd - whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself - Patrick Ness has spun a haunting and darkly funny novel of mischief, loss, and monsters both real and imagined.

Author: Patrick Ness
Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA)
Published: 09/15/2011
Pages: 224
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.35lbs
Size: 8.30h x 6.60w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780763655594
Audience: Young Adult

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 4.8
Point Value: 5
Interest Level: Middle Grade Plus
Quiz #/Name: 147163 / Monster Calls


Award: L.A. Times Book Prize - Finalist
Award: Cybils - Finalist
Award: Capitol Choices: Noteworthy Books for Children and Teens - Recommended
Award: Indies Choice Book Awards - Honor Book
Award: Texas Lone Star Reading List - Commended
Award: Kentucky Bluegrass Award - Nominee
Award: Isinglass Teen Read Award - Nominee
Award: Georgia Children's Book Award - Nominee
Award: Rhode Island Teen Book Award - Nominee
Award: Charlotte Award - Nominee
Award: Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award - Nominee


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 06/20/2011
Booklist 07/01/2011 pg. 52
Kirkus Reviews 07/15/2011
Horn Book Magazine 09/01/2011 pg. 93
School Library Journal 09/01/2011 pg. 164
Voice of Youth Advocates 10/01/2011 pg. 407 - Recommended - Hard To Beat
New York Times Book Review 10/16/2011 pg. 18
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 11/01/2011
New York Times Book Review 10/23/2011 pg. 30
Shelf Awareness 09/27/2011
Publishers Weekly Best Books 11/07/2011 pg. 40
NY Times Notable Bks of Year 12/04/2011 pg. 33
Kirkus Best Young-Adult Books 12/01/2011 pg. 2223
Booklist Ed Choice Youth 01/01/2012 pg. 13
SLJ's Best Books 12/01/2011 pg. 29
LJ Best Books of Year 12/01/2011 pg. 64
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2012 pg. 107 - Superior,Well Above Average

About the Author
Patrick Ness is the author of the critically acclaimed and best-selling Chaos Walking trilogy. He has won numerous awards, including the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the Booktrust Teenage Prize, and the Costa Children's Book Award. Born in Virginia, he lives in London.

Siobhan Dowd spent twenty years as a human rights campaigner for PEN and Amnesty International before her first novel, A Swift Pure Cry, was published in 2006. She won the Carnegie Medal posthumously in 2009 after her death at the age of forty-seven.

Jim Kay studied illustration and worked in the archives of the Tate Gallery and the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, two experiences that heavily influence his work. His images for A Monster Calls use everything from beetles to breadboards to create interesting marks and textures. Jim Kay lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.