Monster School

by Kate Coombs, Lee Gatlin (Illustrator)

Overview

Twilight's here. The death bell rings. Everyone knows what the death bell brings—it's time for class! You're in the place where goblins wail and zombies drool. (That's because they're kindergartners.) Welcome to Monster School. In this entertaining collection of poems, award-winning poet Kate Coombs and debut artist Lee Gatlin bring to vivid life a wide and playful cast of characters (outgoing, shy, friendly, funny, prickly, proud) that may seem surprisingly like the kids you know . . . even if these kids are technically monsters.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452157573
Publisher:	Chronicle Books LLC
Publication date:	08/28/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
File size:	9 MB
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Kate Coombs is an award-winning author of original fairy tales, poems, middle-grade fantasy novels, and picture books, including the critically acclaimed Water Sings Blue. She lives in Bountiful, Utah.

Lee Gatlin makes monsters and art in Athens, Georgia, where he lives with his wife, son, and two cats.

Editorial Reviews

07/02/2018
Coombs (Water Sings Blue) conjures up a school full of spooks using snappy rhymes, a variety of verse forms, and plenty of imagination. Amusing doggerel about the school cafeteria food (“old shoe stew and ankle cake”) mixes with a dirge by a ghost who can’t scare anyone (“The witch is the worst./ She doesn’t even flinch. She just says,/ ‘Stay out of my way, Sophie,/ or I’ll turn you to lint”) and a moody meditation from a lonely soul (“People call me a ghost, like my edges are fluttering./ But I’m just quiet”). Comic artist Gatlin’s more ghoulish figures have blank black eyeholes, while more human-seeming kids sport colorful hair and regular duds (“They’ll think I’m ordinary... until the moon is full”). Entwining tendrils and wisps of smoke deepen the sulfurous atmosphere, and classic school elements subverted for laughs will make kids want to ditch their own school and go to this one. Ages 5–8. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"Both creepy and endearing. A wonderful addition to poetry and storybook shelves all year round." —School Library Journal

"Middle graders will shiver over this angst-y collection of school verses." -Kirkus Reviews

"Classic school elements subverted for laughs will make kids want to ditch their own school and go to this one." -Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

10/01/2018
K-Gr 3—Coombs dips a proverbial hairy toe into the world of endearingly frightful poetry in this collection for young elementary schoolers. The eerie tales begin with an introduction to the monstrous academy: "climb up the wistful, mistful hill/where weeping gargoyles sit/Slip past the gloomful, moonful graves/where small ghosts peer and flit," continuing with poetic portraits the dreadful pupils. "Monster Mash" spotlights a "multicultural" monster whose ancestors had "zapping things, enormous wings, dressed in green, and [were] just a little mean." Readers will find particular delight in the antics of the "Class Pet," who escapes its cage to eat its way through town. When the final poem, "New Kid," begins, readers may be curious why a seemingly human boy would willingly join the raucous crew, but as he explains, "Sometimes kids try to scare me/with a spider or a skull/yeah, they'll think I'm ordinary/until the moon is full." The combination of Coombs' clever verse with comic artist Gatlin's illustrations is picture-perfect. A delightful cast of both humanoid and monstrous creatures, depicted in lush color and rough lines, evokes a full depiction of the school. While a couple of the poems may bump in places, their sum total is both creepy and endearing. VERDICT A wonderful addition to poetry and storybook shelves all year round.—Taylor Worley, Springfield Public Library, OR

School Library Journal