Monsters

by John Malam

Learn about the legends and mysteries that surround mythical creatures with these enthralling guides. Hunt down the most fearsome dragons, explore the fairy world, follow the history of giants and discover the most famous monsters in the world. Prepare to enter a realm of amazing artwork, incredible tales and legendary encounters.

Genres: Nonfiction

Paperback

First published September 1, 2009

About the author

John Malam is a British historian, archaeologist, and author of numerous children's non-fiction books. He attended the University of Birmingham.

Reviews

[BRNTerri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This 32 page book is part of the same 'Mythologies' series as 'Fairies'. What's talked about are the kraken, cerberus, harpy, hydra, great serpent, griffin, flying head, and vampires, among others, and include what I assume are well known stories about some of those creatures.

I like the 'monsters with wings' aka 'monsters of the sky' chapter best. I dislike the illustration of the Harpy because it looks very modern, unlike all the rest, which have a very old feel and look to me. There are quite a lot of stories packed into this one. Perhaps the freakiest chapter is 'humanoid monsters' and I'd be lying if I said this Minotaur didn't creep me out, or the flying head . My favorite image is from The Great Serpent and the Flood story, below.

[Michael Lent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid and interesting.

[Steff Daza · Rating 4 out of 5]

La versión en español tiene un par de errores tanto de redacción como de traducción.
Es un libro infantil cortito, muy resumido y con variadas ilustraciones.

[Charli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cool!! My favourite monster was the Hydra!

[Joanne Vickery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful artwork and illustrations. Small read but still a good one.

[Bethany · Rating 1 out of 5]

Apart from some questionable organization choices across the varying books ("Monsters" and "Giants" have noticeable overlap, and some monsters could feasibly be dragons) and a tendancy to favor Greek and British lore, the books are an interesting review of fantastic creatures from stories around the world.

My primary concerns with the series as a whole:

1. All of the stories are refered to as myths--whether or not they actually belong to that genre. A myth is a specific type of story. It may share cultural space with folklore, fairy tales, and legends, but each type of tale has distinct goals and hallmarks. Using the term "myth" to refer to all of those types of stories dilutes the power of the word and also makes it more difficult for younger readers to grasp the more nuanced connotations later in their educations.

2. The writing conflates fantasy and reality in a strange way, with sentences like, "All dragons have scaly skin."

3. The only glaring fact-based problem that leapt out at me was the identification of Beowulf as a myth that comes from Denmark--no mention of it being an Anglo-Saxon epic poem written by an Anglo-Saxon author in Anglo-Saxon England. The oversight makes me wonder what other information is misleading!

[April · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wasn't bad. It's much better suited to someone first getting into monsters and mythology, which makes sense since this is a children's book. The pictures are nicely done and the page layout is pretty, so I liked that about it. What I didn't like was the writing and the fact that the information could be confusing to a younger reader in the way it was written. Sometimes it presented facts incorrectly or slightly off what they're supposed to be. It's a good kids' book on the subject but I liked it more for the images and visual aesthetic.

[Duane · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another edition in a very weak series. Focusing on "Monsters", the author tries to show the various kinds of monsters and the legends,myths from where they came. The illustrations are mixed, and the text style is very confusing. The layouts are haphazard and overall, this entire series misses the mark by a long shot. There are much better books out there on these topics.

[Paige Y. · Rating 3 out of 5]

My one complaint with this book is that I wish the author had elaborated a bit more with his stories. He does a good job of engaging the reader and It will be an excellent high-interest book for my media center.

[Mortis Boys · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not appropriate for the 3 year old but if you start reading it with him he will NOT let you stop. Hiding this one until he's older.

[Iyania M · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was pretty interesting to read and I did learn things that I didn't know before which is very rare on the subject