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Summary
Summary
"Both timely and terrifying." --Gregory Macguire, New York Times -bestselling author of Wicked
Pairing free verse with over three hundred pages of black-and-white watercolor illustrations, Mary's Monster is a unique and stunning biography of Mary Shelley, the pregnant teenage runaway who became one of the greatest authors of all time.
Legend is correct that Mary Shelley began penning Frankenstein in answer to a dare to write a ghost story. What most people don't know, however, is that the seeds of her novel had been planted long before that night. By age nineteen, she had been disowned by her family, was living in scandal with a married man, and had lost her baby daughter just days after her birth. Mary poured her grief, pain, and passion into the powerful book still revered two hundred years later, and in Mary's Monster , author/illustrator Lita Judge has poured her own passion into a gorgeous book that pays tribute to the life of this incredible author.
A 2019 NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book
A 2019 Amelia Bloomer Project Book
This title has Common Core connections.
Author Notes
Lita Judge is the author and illustrator of several award-winning picture books for young readers, including How Big Were Dinosaurs? , Bird Talk , Born in the Wild , Flight School , and Red Sled . After a summer spent reading the hand written journals of Mary Shelley, Lita embarked on a five year journey to tell the story of this courageous teenager in Mary's Monster . She lives in Peterborough, NH with her husband, two cats and a parrot.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up-Judge details the life of the great Mary Shelley through poetry in this atmospheric and illustrated volume. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a classic masterpiece of horror and science fiction, and Judge treats it as such, hyping up the events that would lead to it's creation-from her tumultuous relationship with Percy Bysshe Shelley to trials and tribulations of being a disowned woman in the 1800s. Readers will be enthralled by the dark and exacting verse, beautifully accompanied by haunting black-and-white watercolor spreads. In the poem "I Am Seventeen": "Already/I am daughter to a ghost/and mother to bones." This work does not skimp on the details, however sordid they may be. The pain, fervor, and tragic events that drove Shelley's inspiration for Frankenstein will sit with readers well after the volume is finished. It also discusses the issue of women's rights at the time (or lack thereof) in a somberly poignant way that mirrors many of Shelley's own experiences. VERDICT A must-purchase for any middle and high school or public library YA collections, particularly where Gothic horror is in demand.-Molly Dettmann, Moore Public Library, OK © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
This novel based on Mary Shelley's life gives readers insight into the complex author of Frankenstein, including details about her life and her creative process, in first-person verse covering lots of chronological ground. There are moments of true poetry, but even more impressive are the numerous monochromatic watercolor illustrations that envelop the verse, imbuing the work with a Gothic atmosphere of gloom, dread, and fate. Bib. (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
That a teenage girl in 19th-century England could have written a novel as original as Frankenstein has fascinated generations of readers. This fictionalized biography in first-person free verse unveils how Mary Shelley's unusual experiences shaped her imagination and inspired her to give the world the first "mad scientist" in science fiction. From extensive source material, Judge pieces together a timeline from 1812 until the anonymous publication of Frankenstein in 1817. As a pregnant teenager, Mary is banished by her father for her relationship with libertine poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her social circle of prolific Romantic-era writers includes poet Lord Byron, who challenges the group to write ghost stories one rainy evening. (Among the tidbits in the backmatter are thumbnail biographies of these secondary players and a bibliography of related titles.) The author/illustrator pulls no punches in her portrayal of Mary's dismal life. The book is heavily illustrated in black-and-white wash, with darkly evocative images that echo the grief behind Mary's writing, including the loss of a baby and sharing Percy Shelley with her stepsister, Claire. A prologue and epilogue from the Creature's point of view pull modern readers in: "She conceived metill I was bold enough to climb out of the page / and into your mind."Students of literature will appreciate the powerful poetry that brings life to Mary Shelley's story the way that Shelley herself breathed life into her novel of a scientist who animates a corpse. (introduction, biographical note, author's note, notes, bibliography) (Historical verse novel. 13-17) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Originally published in January 1818, Mary Shelley's revolutionary Frankenstein has bewitched readers for centuries. In this novel-like, free-verse book and just in time for Frankenstein's two-hundredth anniversary Judge (Hoot and Peep, 2017) illuminates the life of the legendary author. Told in nine parts (a nod to the nine months Mary spent drafting Frankenstein), drawn from Mary's own meticulous journals, and kindled by supremely haunting black-and-white watercolor illustrations, Judge's book spotlights the circumstances that inevitably spawn Mary's unforgettable Creature. There was the death of Mary's mother, renowned feminist Mary Wollstonecraft; an adolescence spent in Scotland, severed from her family; and a tumultuous romance with married poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and its consequences, including familial and social exile. Through it all, Mary remains a creative force, enchanted by a zeitgeist of galvanism, radical poetry, and indomitable nature. Complete with extensive back matter, such as a What Were They Reading? compilation, this is a stirring, impeccably researched portrait of a remarkable woman and her literary progeny. Much like Mary, Judge forges a Creature all her own.--Shemroske, Briana Copyright 2017 Booklist
