"A stunning book...a brand new take on the monster story." —Eoin Colfer, international bestselling author of the Artemis Fowl series
From award-winning author Pádraig Kenny comes an action-packed middle grade fantasy about a family of monsters, perfect for fans of Jonathan Auxier and Victoria Schwab.
Mirabelle is part of a very unusual family. Between Uncle Bertram transforming into a ferocious grizzly bear and Aunt Eliza's body being made entirely of spiders, it's safe to say they are an extraordinary lot.
To the human residents of Rookhaven Village, the family is a threat. So long ago, a treaty was reached between them—in return for sundries and supplies, the monsters won't eat the townspeople—and an invisible glamour was set around the perimeter of the Manor to keep strangers out.
But the glamour serves a second purpose: to keep Mirabelle and her family hidden from those who would do them harm. When two orphans—siblings Jem and Tom—stumble upon a tear in the magical field and open a door that was meant to stay locked, Mirabelle and her family are put in grave danger. A very real monster has locked onto their scent, and he has a hunger for their kind.
At turns chilling and thought-provoking, Pádraig Kenny's The Monsters of Rookhaven explores difference and empathy through the eyes of characters you won't soon forget.
A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Company
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Release date
September 21, 2021 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781250830425
- File size: 208689 KB
- Duration: 07:14:46
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- Lexile® Measure: 720
- Text Difficulty: 3
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Reviews
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Publisher's Weekly
July 19, 2021
Mirabelle, an otherworldly being in girl guise who looks "no more than twelve," lives with the Family, a close-knit group of monsters, at the House of Rookhaven. The group is protected from a nearby village by the Glamour, a magical barrier resulting from a generations-old monster-human pact, through which nothing may cross without a key. To the confusion and horror of the Rookhaven household, all rendered toothily macabre in inky b&w illustrations by Bettison, a tear appears in the Glamour soon after the arrival of a new Family member, allowing 12-year-old Jem and ailing 13-year-old Tom, orphan siblings on the run, to stumble through. Pivoting between the cued-white characters in a third-person narration, this elaborately cast adventure by Kenny (Tin) begins languidly, gathering momentum and turning grim when a Family member escapes just before an unsettling hitchhiker's arrival, and the human (and human-seeming) children must fight desperately to maintain relations between the Family and the postwar English village nearby. Full of gruesome charm and heart-wrenching pathos, this story offers a satisfying gothic fantasy at once chilling and affecting. Ages 10–14. Agent: Sophie Hicks, Sophie Hicks Agency.
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Formats
- OverDrive Listen audiobook
subjects
Languages
- English
Levels
- Lexile® Measure:720
- Text Difficulty:3
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