| Monsters -- Juvenile fiction |
| Drawing -- Juvenile fiction. |
| Friendship -- Juvenile fiction |
| Drawings |
| Sketching |
Available:
Library | Shelf Number | Shelf Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Berkley Public Library | JJ FIC MCCARTY | PICTURE BOOKS | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Fall River Main | E MCC | CHILDREN STACKS | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Mattapoisett Free Public Library | JP MCC | PICTURE BOOKS | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... New Bedford Francis J. Lawler Branch | J MONSTERS PIC MCCARTY | CHILDREN DISPLAY | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Norfolk Public Library | JP MONSTERS MCC | PICTURE BOOKS | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Pembroke Public Library | JE MCCARTY, P. | PICTURE BOOKS | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Plainville Public Library | J MCCARTY | PICTURE BOOKS | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Somerset Public Library | M C C | PICTURE BOOKS | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Jeremy thought he'd seen the last of his monster when he sent him away with a one-way bus ticket. But suddenly there's a knock on the door . . . and the monster has returned!
Jeremy tries to decide what to do. Is it possible that the monster is in need of a friend?
Peter McCarty brings his popular monster back in style, with a sequel that will have kids drawing their own little monsters in no time.
Reviews (6)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3-Jeremy Draws a Monster (Holt, 2009) was a big hit with kids due to the picture-perfect scenario of a child confronting fears of solitude in a creative way. In this sequel, the tone is crisp and mysterious. The neighborhood kids outside are staring at the gliding paper airplane headed for Jeremy's window. The boy is alone drawing when it lands on his floor. "But what is this?/It was a note." Unfolded, it reads: "Draw a compass and a telescope and look out your window north by northwest." Jeremy hears the phone ring. "I'm coming back and I'm bored!" The monster is back! Rather than panicking, he thinks fast and invites the kids up. He hands each of them a fancy pen and tells them what to draw. Readers will certainly chuckle at the similarities between the children and the monsters they create. The pictures are uniquely drawn with such fine lines that one might think that a computer did some fancy feathering, but closer examination reveals the drawings to be entirely human in their imperfection and in their vast range of values, almost swirling from effervescent to dense crosshatching. McCarty's pen, ink, and watercolor artwork is delicate and spare, and allows youngster the space to wonder and gather evidence, bringing a joyful conclusion to Jeremy's desperate dilemma. The pacing is superb and invites viewers to linger over each page. This is an engaging celebration of artistic imagination and friendship.-Sara Lissa Paulson, American Sign Language and English Lower School PS 347, New York City (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
One day when Jeremy is drawing alone in his apartment, the blue, spiky monster that he created in Jeremy Draws a Monster calls him from a telephone booth: "I'm coming back.... And I'm bored!" Thinking quickly, Jeremy arms his young neighbors with fancy pens and they craft a menagerie of additional monsters. McCarty's story is Hitchcockian in its suspense, as the monster, wearing a pink hat and carrying a brown suitcase, makes his way to Jeremy's door. Once again, the monster proves that he knows exactly how to shift Jeremy's quiet life into unexpected territory. Ages 3-6. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
In this sequel to Jeremy Draws a Monster, the boy learns of the monster's imminent return, so he enlists some kids to draw monster "friends" to placate him. In the book's conclusion, Jeremy admits his ulterior motive: his ploy earned friends for him, too. McCarty hints at Jeremy's loneliness in his sensitive illustrations set in an adult-free anonymous city. (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Jeremy Draws a Monster (2009). He seems content drawing, hoping not to be disturbed, though McCarty's tempting view of neighborhood kids outdoors implies a gentle question about whether Jeremy's isolation is really optimal. A paper airplane flies in the window, instructing Jeremy to draw a compass and telescope. Jeremy peers though the telescope (everything he draws becomes real, as in Harold and the Purple Crayon) and sees his old blue monster, who rings up via telephone to declare, "I'm back. And I'm bored!" This announcement means different things to different readers. Those who've read Jeremy Draws know that the monster's bossy and domineering, so they'll find Jeremy's monster-diversion scheme a clever defense; new readers may see the plan as simply sweet and fun. Jeremy invites neighbors into his apartment to draw with the fancy pens that carry conjuring power. Each child draws a new monster to partake in the surprise. Copious white space keeps focus on the monster, with his contained, slightly alarming flowery blue swirls, and on the appealingly buoyant kids, drawn in fine, delicate lines and colored with pleasantly pale watercolor. It might lack the mild menace of its predecessor, but it satisfies in its supply of companionship all around. (Picture book. 3-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
After birthing a monster by drawing it (and then cleverly dispatching it by drawing a bus ticket) in Jeremy Draws a Monster (2009), Jeremy gets an unwelcome phone call. I'm coming back, says the monster, this time outfitted with a pink hat and a gray convertible. And I'm bored! Jeremy gathers the friends he made last time, and they each draw a new monster so that the returning beast won't be lonely. As before, great white spaces give the affair an absurd, floating feel, especially effective when McCarty reveals the six new monsters, all of whom are ready to begin the wild rumpus.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
LAST fall, an advertisement in the children's book review journal The Horn Book announced, "We are tired of hearing the picture book is in trouble, and tired of pretending it is not." Signed by 22 writers and illustrators, the proclamation offered an attractive vision for children's literature, including declarations that "a picture book should be fresh, honest, piquant and beautiful," and that "we must cease writing the same book again and again." The Picture Book Manifesto, as the treatise is known, was the brainchild of the author Mac Barnett ("Mustache!"). "I think there's a lot of hand-wringing going on now about the picture book and its place in the market and in our culture," Barnett told Publishers Weekly. "We need to make exciting books that kids will want to read." Those who agree will rejoice in the release of three new picture books by well-established authors and illustrators that attempt to answer that call, including one by Barnett himself. Many memorable picture books rely on the imaginations of both their characters and their readers to transform the ordinary into the remarkable. Continuing that tradition, in each of these titles - "One Cool Friend," written by Toni Buzzeo (known for her "Adventure Annie" books) and illustrated by the Caldecott winner David Small ("Imogene's Antlers" "So You Want to Be President?"); "The Monster Returns," written and illustrated by Peter McCarty ("Henry in Love," "Hondo & Fabian"); and "Extra Yarn," written by Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen ("I Want My Hat Back"), another manifesto signer - the child protagonist demonstrates creativity and resourcefulness that will inspire readers. In the wonderful "One Cool Friend," prim and polite Elliot, who prefers books to "masses of noisy kids," is captivated by penguins during a trip to the aquarium and decides to bring one home in his backpack. Elliot proceeds to turn his room into an ice-skating rink, make a nest in the freezer, and invest in ice cubes and Goldfish crackers to keep his new friend happy. Our hero looks like a penguin himself, sporting a tuxedo and enviable posture, while his father, hunched and in green pajamas, resembles the sea turtles he spends his days researching. Academic curiosity is encouraged in Elliot's home. Naming his penguin Magellan, Elliot bikes to the library to learn more about the breed. Small's energetic colored-pencil;, ink and watercolor illustrations aptly convey the scale and urgency of a child's perspective and provide plenty of playful details leading up to a last-page twist that will delight kids and parents alike. "The Monster Returns" is a welcome stand-alone follow-up to Peter McCarty's "Jeremy Draws a Monster," from 2009. In the first book, reclusive, artistic Jeremy animates a cheerful monster whose incessant demands for hand-drawn entertainment prove exhausting. Eventually, Jeremy draws his monster a one-way bus ticket and sends him on his way. In this sequel, the monster is back, telephoning to announce that he's bored. Jeremy enlists help from the neighborhood children, giving them his "fancy pens" to color more monsters who will keep his original creation happy. Several pages are devoted to revealing these new beasts, and children will enjoy spying the similarities between the monsters and their illustrators. This time, Jeremy uses his imagination to include others, not merely to escape his own loneliness. "Friends for me?" Jeremy's surprised monster asks. "Friends for you and for me," Jeremy says. McCarty's whimsical and wiggly sketches cover the endpapers, which show children and monsters all together, providing an opportunity for young readers to contextualize the story and describe what they see as Jeremy enjoys friendship's rewards. "The Monster Returns" feels less complete than its predecessor, but those who loved Jeremy the first time around will be happy to see him back, with several new monsters to boot. Annabelle, the dexterous heroine of Barnett and Klassen's "Extra Yarn," inhabits a monochrome world of grays and browns until she finds a box of brightly colored yarn in the snow. When the rambow sweater she knits herself is a distraction at her humdrum school, she promises to knit sweaters for the whole class. "Impossible," her teacher says. "You can't." But Annabelle does, and the magical box of yarn just won't run out, even after she knits sweaters for everyone in town, and then for the local animals and buildings. Klassen's illustrations are the most absorbing part of this tale, wrapping Annabelle's sooty, snowy town in mottled color and texture as her knitting progresses. Klassen is known for his concept art for the animated movie "Coraline," and he carries a bit of that film's otherworldliness into bis work here. Alas, the story's central conflict - the interference of a greedy archduke who appears out of nowhere to demand the yarn for himself - feels out of place, as the theme of creativity trumping negativity was already pleasing on its own. The second act also raises more questions than it answers. For example, it's unclear why the archduke wants the yarn. Woven through is a rather grown-up hipster aesthetic, with guerrilla knitting around tree branches and bearded characters who wouldn't look out of place at a Portland indie-rock show. Think of it as Etsy for the grade-school set, well suited to Klassen's moody illustrations and Barnett's emphasis on the felicitous extraordinary. In both "The Monster Returns" and "Extra Yarn," it's largely the characters' creations that burst into color - the drawings by Jeremy and his friends and Annabelle's knitting transform their otherwise dreary homes. All three books are also notable for the beneficent absence of hands-on parenting - Elliot's father reads National Geographic while Elliot explores the aquarium, and we never even meet Jeremy's parents - making space for the child protagonists to flourish creatively. "It is right that anything a child sees, feels, or thinks be our grist," Barnett's picture book manifesto commendably insists, and the resourceful children in these three books will certainly motivate young readers to extend the stories in their own imaginations as they read and reread them. Parents, keep some fancy pens and balls of yarn on hand, and don't forget to check your children's backpacks after field trips to the aquarium. Rachael Brown, a former teacher, has written for The Atlantic and The Guardian.