M Is for Monster

Fifth Grade Monsters #1

by Mel Gilden, John Pierard (Illustrator)

When four monsters enroll Danny's fifth-grade class, exciting things begin to happen.

Genres: Childrens, Werewolves, Vampires, Fantasy

89 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Mel Gilden is the author of many children's books, some of which received rave reviews in such places as School Library Journal and Booklist. His multi-part stories for children appeared frequently in the Los Angeles Times. His popular novels and short stories for grown-ups have also received good reviews in the Washington Post and other publications. (See new publications under his name at the Kindle Store of Amazon.com.)
Licensed properties include adaptations of feature films, and of TV shows such as Beverly Hills, 90210; and NASCAR Racers. He has also written books based on video games and has written original stories based in the Star Trek universe. His short stories have appeared in many original and reprint anthologies.
He has written cartoons for TV, has developed new shows, and was assistant story editor for the DIC television production of The Real Ghostbusters. He consulted at Disney and Universal, helping develop theme park attractions. Gilden spent five years as co-host of the science-fiction interview show, Hour-25, on KPFK radio in Los Angeles.
Gilden lectures to school and library groups, and has been known to teach fiction writing. He lives in Los Angeles, California, where the debris meets the sea, and still hopes to be an astronaut when he grows up.

Reviews

[Josiah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Three years before the Bailey School Kids series by Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones debuted in 1990, Mel Gilden launched a somewhat similar series, Fifth Grade Monsters. Danny Keegan is entering fifth grade at P.S. 13, but he's not sure it will be any better than fourth grade. The class bully, Stevie Brickwald, will still be there threatening to beat Danny up if he annoys him. At least the teacher, young Ms. Cosgrove, seems friendly. But Danny's expectations for fifth grade completely flip when he sees the four new kids for the first time: they look more like supernatural creatures than any kids Danny ever saw. There's C.D. Bitesky, who resembles a vampire from an old movie; he wears a cape, sips a cup of red liquid he calls the "Fluid of Life", and tiny fangs protrude from the corners of his mouth. Howie Wolfner is an expert skateboarder, far superior to Stevie Brickwald. He speaks in a refined English accent, except when something triggers his werewolf transformation. Then he sprouts hair all over his body and acts crazy, but usually he can control himself. Lastly, there's Frankie and Elisa Stein, siblings with metal bolts sticking out of the sides of their necks. Frankie and Elisa can zap people with painful electric shocks, a lesson Stevie quickly learns when he harasses them. By the end of the first day, Danny has made friends with the new kids, but adapting to four monster classmates won't be a smooth ride.

Danny's sister Barbara is apprehensive about starting fourth grade, and Stevie resents C.D., Howie, Frankie, and Elisa for their strangeness, but the real trouble only begins after Ms. Cosgrove announces the upcoming "Parents' Night" at P.S. 13, an evening for families to socialize. Ms. Cosgrove has created a miniature model of the school to celebrate, a painstaking work of art, but a few days before Parents' Night, C.D., Howie, Frankie, Elisa, and Danny discover the model is missing. They suspect Stevie, but he denies any involvement; what's more, he wants to publicly accuse the four monster kids of the theft, but he's afraid to antagonize them. Ms. Cosgrove and other adults seem to naturally overlook their monstrous traits, dismissing what's obvious to Danny, Stevie, and the other kids, but if Stevie convinces her that C.D., Howie, Frankie, and Elisa are purposely sabotaging Parents' Night, they could be in for a rough year. Will Danny and his friends solve the mystery of the missing P.S. 13 model? One thing appears certain: Danny's fifth-grade year is not going to be boring.

M Is for Monster is an odd book. We're never told why four "monster" kids with no prior connection to one another all moved to Brooklyn at the same time. Surely a better explanation than coincidence could have been engineered. The writing is awkward and stilted at times, but there's an undercurrent of substance that almost leads me to round my one-and-a-half-star rating to two. Danny's new friends acknowledge they are unusual, but encourage him to view them as he would any kids born with special problems: they'll have to work to fit in and minimize the impact their extreme quirks have on the learning environment. When Danny sees it that way, he's willing to accommodate them as he would any kid with physical, behavioral, or family issues. Had this theme been explored more astutely, M Is for Monster could have been an impressive book. Regardless, it's a fun way to kick off the series, which I expect will improve as we get to know the characters. I look forward to spending fifth grade with Danny and his monster friends.

[[Name Redacted] · Rating 3 out of 5]

First read: Sometime in the late 1980s/early 1990s.
Second read: September 30, 2007 - October 1, 2007.
Third read: October 1, 2016 - October 4, 2016.
Fourth read: October 1, 2018 - October 3, 2018.

[Ryan McSwain]

I first read this book somewhere around 9 years old. I loved monsters, sure, but I also enjoyed the message of looking below the surface finding friendship in unlikely places. Unfortunately, I never tracked down any more of the series until I was too old to enjoy them, which was a real shame.

Running on nostalgia, I bought a copy to read to my son, and I later read it to my daughter. It held up fairly well, and I further appreciated the themes of embracing differences and overcoming disabilities. It didn't resonate as strongly with my kids as it did with me, but we had a good time.

Rather than diving into this series, I've gotten a few of Mel Gilden's books for an adult audience. Hopefully they contain some of that same magic that called to me as a kid.