Hal Johnson

This is not your typical scary monster book. This reminds me of when I read the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore. Here's a book filled with creatures I've heard of but many I never knew of. That's what made this a fun read for me. The writer has a knowledge of the stories these creatures are from this is easy to understand. This book is for someone who really loves Halloween or is a very avid reader of book s before 1900. I can't recommend it for everyone but for those who will enjoy it I cannot recommend it enough.

Note, I know the author personally but that did not sway my review of this book. It did remind me that he has a depth of literature that is very impressive. That knowledge shines through in this book.

I read this book via NetGalley. I thank them for this book.

#TheBigBookOfMonsters #NetGalley… (lisätietoja)

I think if I had a new copy of this book I would have had the benefit of seeing the illustrations in their original glow-in-the-dark awesomeness. As it is, I got this from the library and it had seen many days under the sun (and probably some under a flashlight to really get all the juice out of it).

Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods: 20 Chilling Tales from the Wilderness by Hal Johnson with illustrations by Tom Mead is a children's graphic novel that certainly delivered what it set out to with that supremely long title. This is definitely a middle grade title and I wouldn't recommend reading this to your elementary aged child before bedtime (unless they're tough as nails). It would however make a fantastic Halloween read aloud. ;-) The book consists of short stories depicting different monstrous creatures of lore and how they were discovered, captured (if they ever were), and killed their victims. Each story is accompanied by illustrations of the creatures overlaid with the glow-in-the-dark ink I mentioned at the beginning. The illustrations are FANTASTIC. I also felt like the stories were the perfect length if you were using them to read aloud to kids. Since there are 20 you could read one a day on the lead up to Halloween. However, in the spirit of full transparency, I need to point out that it seemed as if the author had something against Frenchman (they were abused quite a lot throughout) which did make me quite uncomfortable at several points. If not for that, this would have been a fully enjoyable little collection of monster stories. As it stands, I'll go with a 7/10.… (lisätietoja)

Myron Horowitz is an especially ugly kid. He was found wandering a country road looking more like hamburger than an 8 year old. Multiple surgeries to repair his face saved his life at the cost of horrified and averted looks from strangers. In addition to being disfigured, Myron stopped growing after the accident and is now an unusually small 13 year old and a favorite target of bullies. But when one particularly brutal bully picks on him in the school cafeteria something happens that leaves his attacker a bleeding mess hanging in a wire-reinforced window and Myron unconscious and naked on the floor. And the unusual nature of this incident draws the attention of people who understand what Myron really is - an immortal lycanthrope. And while some want to help him or use him for their own ends, others just want to kill him.

By now we should all know were-wolves are also called lycanthropes, but "lycanthrope" can refer to more animal/human shape-shifters than just wolves. So, a were-bear, a were-lion, or even a were-moose or a were-mouse is also a lycanthrope. And in this story there is one for each mammal species and they're immortal - sort of. Yeah, yeah, I know - this sounds like another dumb ripoff of the recent paranormal trend in teen books since Twilight, and this one suffers from an especially uncreative title.

I picked it up in a moment of weakness. I needed a bit of escapist fantasy that didn't take too much effort to read and that was hopefully *fun*, as well. I ignored a dumb title and a jacket blurb that indicated this might be a bloody gore-fest aimed at teenagers, but in spite of the dust-jacket promise of "rivers of blood" the violence was remarkably restrained. There are a few mild profanities and a couple of juvenile comments of a sexual nature, but fortunately that was all. And I ended up reading it all in a Saturday afternoon and evening and found it... kind of entertaining. It's not a great book, mind you - the ending is a little abrupt and the narration is too smart-alecky. Plus, it reminded me a little too unpleasantly of I Am Number Four, with its heavy emphasis on a plot-driven action story and a little mystery mixed in - but it was actually kind of fun to read. Myron is a sympathetic and even interesting character, and the mystery kept me reading. Like I said, it's not a "great" book but it was an escapist diversion and kind of fun, and I guess that's what I was looking for.… (lisätietoja)