Monster Club

October 1, 2022

Gr 3-6-Eric has spent hours perfecting drawings of Brickman, a very special monster who can shoot cement out of one arm and swing a wrecking ball with the other. Using various board game strategies, Eric and his friends in Monster Club battle their monster drawings against each other, vying for dominance and bragging rights. This takes place on paper until Eric comes across some very special (and very smelly) ink passed down from his great-great-grandfather, which causes the monsters to pop off the page as real, three-dimensional, ready-to-rumble beasties. Eric is thrilled-until his nemesis at school draws some out-of-control monsters of his own, leading to a wild battle and chase culminating in a showdown at Coney Island. The biggest challenge of this novel is simply how many different plot points are included: flashbacks to a great-great-grandfather's experiences in the early 20th century, mythical creatures, modern monsters, both obvious and secret villains, friendships, falling outs, the difficulties of outgrowing childhood pleasures, burgeoning romance, parents who may be divorcing, parents who may be losing their business, bullying at school, and the iconic elements of Coney Island. All these combine to create a fast-paced and exciting yet cluttered, thrill ride. While this first entry may have been more successful having eliminated some of those elements, all of these pieces do provide numerous potential plot lines for future entries in the series. Engaging illustrations provide additional interest; characters are depicted with a range of skin tones. VERDICT Electrifying adventures and a clever twist will leave readers anticipating the next volume in this new, jam-packed adventure series.-Alyssa Annico

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2022
A boy fights to protect his family's Coney Island amusement park from developers and save his parents' marriage using magic ink that allows drawings to come to life. Two years ago, sixth graders Eric "Doodles" King and his best friend, Alan "Yoo-hoo" Yoo, created Monster Club, in which members draw monsters and pit them against each other in battle, but the other club members are beginning to lose interest. At home, Eric worries that his arguing parents will separate and that King's Wonderland, the amusement park that's been in his dad's family for generations, will have to close. When Eric discovers some smelly old ink and uses it to create "a literal magic marker" that allows the monsters he draws to come to life, he believes he's found a way to save King's: by having a real-life monster battle. Matters get wildly out of hand, however, when Eric brings the magic ink to school and bully Darren Nuggio uses it to create an army of monsters, leading to an exciting, sustained action sequence. A prologue and a tale from King Neptune, an eccentric old man who wanders the Coney Island boardwalk, provide some family history for Eric that is rooted in early-20th-century Eastern European pogroms. An epilogue offers an origin story for the magic ink and a surprise twist, setting things up for the sequel. Names signal ethnic diversity in the supporting cast. Art not seen. Action packed and wildly creative. (Fiction. 9-13)

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July 25, 2022
A 12-year-old’s monster doodles come to life and terrorize his Brooklyn neighborhood in a quirky novel by collaborators Aronofsky and Handel (Noah). With his parents bickering more than ever over the fate of his father’s Coney Island amusement park, King’s Wonderland, Eric “Doodles” King is counting on Monster Club, a neighborhood group dedicated to developing the “coolest, smartest monster battle game of all time,” to distract him. But as the club crumbles following a blowout with one of its members, who claims the group has outgrown the game, Doodles scrambles for a way to keep them together. As Doodles contends with tense relationships and literal monsters, flashbacks detailing a surrealist 1940s Coney Island and Doodles’s great-great-grand-father fleeing a pogrom in Kyiv feature throughout. Disjointed pacing, a tone that unevenly vacillates between somber and silly, and thinly rendered characters impede what is an otherwise boisterous read. Classic tropes such as monsters coming to life and friends on the outs banding together to defeat a larger evil permeate this action-packed series opener, a savory match for fans of Doodleville. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8–12.

November 15, 2023
Eric "Doodles" King thinks the magic ink that brings monsters to life has been destroyed, but a powerful CEO is planning to use it to flood lower Manhattan and make a new Atlantis. The exciting events of the 2022 series opener are months past; Eric's new worry is beginning seventh grade at Tinsdale, a Manhattan private school, instead of returning to his old gifted and talented school with his friends. At Tinsdale, Eric is dubbed "Sketch" for his art skills and adopted by three popular kids. When he returns to Brooklyn and his dad's house on weekends, he has trouble transitioning between worlds. At an age in which friends and identity are closely linked, Eric isn't sure whether he's "Doodles" or "Sketch," and he makes some mistakes with his old friends. But when a serious new threat arises, Monster Club assembles again to fight King Neptune. Most chapters are told from Eric's perspective, but some are about Neptune, and the epilogue focuses on Eric's new friend Pete, with an ending that sets the stage for a third entry. New readers are given enough background information to follow along, but this work is best appreciated by those who've read the first book. The fight scenes with the monsters are joyous, and one especially dramatic, high-stakes action scene is perfectly paced. While Brickman, Eric's monster creation, is heroic, Eric's words are even more powerful. Eric is Jewish; secondary characters' names signal ethnic diversity. Final art not seen. Exciting, inventive, and emotionally intelligent. (Fiction. 9-13)

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