S22 DC Composition discussion

Ferris, Emil. My Favorite Thing is Monsters. Seattle: 2018.

Emil Ferris’ My Favorite Thing is Monsters proved to not only be an intriguing, suspenseful read, but a visually pleasing one as well. Written and illustrated from the perspective of a young girl, Karen, as she navigates the struggles of her and her family, the novel follows Karen's journey as she attempts to investigate the death of her neighbor, Anka. Throughout her investigation, Karen continuously struggles with her ideology of self- worth as she is seen portrayed as a werewolf-esque monster. In terms of the read itself, the storyline, coupled with the intricate, crosshatch illustrations throughout the book made it difficult to put this novel down. Keeping me at the edge of my seat as Karen slowly unravels clues to her neighbor’s death, this read did a great job of keeping me intrigued… for the most part. While throughout the majority of the book, the novel kept me interested, certain points of the story struggled to keep me entertained. While the illustrations did a wonderful job of depicting the story line, they oftentimes slowed down the pace of the read almost to the point where it was difficult to follow the plot. It would often have me turning two or three times with very few words to read, which I understand is part of reading a graphic novel, however I feel as though this one in particular took this element to the extreme. So, while overall I feel as though this novel did a great job of utilizing artwork to further develop the story, in some parts it did appear to be a tad bit overdone causing me to score this book a little lower. Now, this is in no way shape or form taking away from the overall incredible graphics and storyline as the novel was still a great read and I would definitely recommend it.
John Myers, April, 2022