A Monster Like Me

by Wendy S Swore

• ISBN10: 1629725552
• ISBN13: 9781629725550
• Publish Date: 5 March 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Shadow Mountain
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[sstaley]

A Monster Like Me is a truly unique and charming book. This book is based on real life experiences from the author in fiction form.

Main character Sophie has a hemangioma on her face that makes her feel like a monster. Readers find out from the first that she feels she was cursed by a witch. Sophie retreats in her own world as she reads her book, The Big Book of Monsters. As she goes throughout her life she identifies the people around her as monsters and fairies. This is a coping mechanism for her as she deals with bullies at school and out in public. Sophie's single mom tries hard to bring her out of her shell but often doesn't know how to help her child. This book told from Sophie's child-like perspective deals with huge human issues of bullying, anxiety, and a deadly disease; but it also shows the beauty of friendship and acceptance and learning to love yourself despite what's going on inside or outside of ones self.

This novel would be a great book to read out-loud to children in the home where good discussions could take place. My other favorite characters were Autumn, Sophie's "fairy-like" friend, her grandmother the "good witch" Mrs. Barrett, and her mother's boyfriend Kelsi who taught her a lot about self acceptance. This book is a well written first novel by the author which is brimming with good messages. This novel is bound to teach many children about hard to talk about issues within the pages of a sweet story.

****Come follow me & my reviews at:
http://whynotbecauseisaidso.blogspot.com

Like my Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/WhyNotBecaus...

[Liz (Bent Bookworm)]

Sophie thinks she's a monster. She thinks a lot of people around her are monsters too, and she carries her Big Book of Monsters around almost everywhere she goes so that she can identify them and protect herself and her mom from them. The big birthmark - a hermangioma - that covers one side of her face makes kids and even adults stare and even make fun of her, and as a result she has severe social anxiety. Her world of monsters helps everything make sense. Until things start to change, and the bullying gets worse, and her monsters might just make her lose the only friend she's ever had.

This was a fantastic book! Sophie is 11 years old, and the writing will appeal to kids that age and even a little older. The idea of Sophie so fully believing in the idea of people being monsters, will be a little more hard to go along with, but the book has a cast of loving, supportive adults that - while not hogging the page time - make it clear that Sophie's way of dealing with the issues caused by her birthmark is not the healthiest way.

Autumn, a sweetheart of a girl at Sophie's new school, is such a vivacious, loving friend to Sophie that she unwittingly opens an entire new world to her shy friend. Autumn's grandmother, a gardener and herbalist, is another new friend that slowly draws Sophie out of her shell with gentleness and acceptance.

I really liked that Sophie's mom was such a positive character. Even though she was far from perfect, she loved Sophie with all her heart and really, truly wanted the absolute best for her. In so many MG and YA books the parents are negative influences and I was happy to see a strong mother/daughter relationship.

4/5 stars. Strongly recommend for any kid and any library! Also worth noting: the author herself had a hermangioma as a child, and some of the incidents in the book came from her experiences. Now available!

Blog | Twitter | Bloglovin | Instagram | Google+