Children's Book Reviews
Page Three of FourThe Monster Trap by Dean Morrissey
HarperCollins, July, 2004Picture Book, 40 pages
ISBN: 0060524987
Ages 5 and up
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
The Monster Trap is a very clever story about young Paddy, who while visiting his
Grandfather, reports hearing monsters during the night. So
Grandfather builds a trap to try to catch the monster and put Paddy's fears at ease.
Paddy thinks he hears monsters again that night, but the next morning he looks in the
trap and there is no monster. "Maybe that means there aren't any monsters," says
Paddy's Grandfather. But Paddy insists there are monsters, so Grandfather continues
to build larger and more complicated traps -- to no avail. Finally he builds a very
large and elaborate trap. But instead of catching the monsters it entertains them,
and Grandfather and Paddy are both very surprised to see the trap teaming with
happy fun-loving creatures. Soon Grandfather and Paddy are both laughing and Paddy
has some new monster friends to spend the night with. Author and artist Dean
Morrissey has drawn the monster not as scary monsters but as likeable mysterious
creatures that children can become attached to. The Monster Trap is a
charming story takes the traditional fears of monsters under the bed and turns it
upside down. A valuable lesson about facing one's fears of the unknown
is also gently imparted.
Children will adore this monster tale.
The Secret of Castle Cant by K.P. Bath, Illustrations by David Christiana
Little, Brown, September, 2004Hardcover, 292 pages
ISBN: 0316108480
Ages 10 and up
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
The Barony of Cant is so small that it is lost in the creases of
even the most detailed of maps. Perhaps that explains why
the Barony still has medieval villages, a castle, catapults and dungeons,
but also an American mission which provides jeans and t-shirts
to the underprivileged. Lucy Wickwright is the maidservant to
the Baron of Cant's daughter, the irrepressible Pauline
Esmerelda Simone-Thierry von Cant. Pauline is not a
bad person, but she is extraordinarily self-centered and drags
Lucy along on a number of ill-conceived pranks, such as catapulting
soggy underwear into the middle of a formal occasion, much to the
dismay of the assembled noblemen. There is a mysterious rebellion
brewing in the Barony as the revolutionaries fight to stop the
importation of chewing gum from the outside world. The cost of
importing the gum is nearly bankrupting the Barony, and the
gum itself seems to be strangely addictive. Through a series of
serendipitous events, Lucy finds herself acting as a spy for the revolutionaries,
but her role in the politics of the Barony are actually much larger than she
suspects, and the Baron's deathbed confession catapults Lucy into notoriety
and the barony into a full-fledged civil war.
K.P. Bath is best known for his Pushcart Prize-winning story "Algae Eaters." This delightful story is his first novel. Written in a slightly pompous style, the narrator describes events with tongue firmly planted in cheek. The contrast between the fairy-tale like Castle and the outside, modern world of jeans, sneakers and chewing gum, provides a great deal of humor, as does the posturing of most of the adults in the story. Lucy is a charming girl, who is as unassuming as she is loyal. She also is very clever (which is most helpful when one is assisting in a revolution) and has a continually runny nose. But it is the delightfully self-absorbed Adorable and Humble Pauline (who is perhaps not quite so unaware as one might think) who really captures the imagination of the reader. Clever, funny and full of witty satire, The Secret of Castle Cant is just as enjoyable for adults to read as it will be for young adults.
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