From the Grave
By Cynthia Reeg
Hi! Do you ever feel left out just because you’re different from someone else? Well, Frank feels like that every day. He’s a monster. He’s supposed to like scaring humans, to be untidy, and to look like a monster, but Frank has blue skin (and he’s a Frankenstein), he likes everything to be neat and tidy, and he doesn’t know how to feel about humans. Everyone in the community frowns on him.
Frank has an enemy. His name is Malcolm McNastee. He is determined to make Frank’s life miserable. One day, Malcolm, Frank, Georgina (a dragon who spits out water), Oliver (a mummy who keeps trying to unwrap his wraps), and Vanya (a troll who is obsessed with bright colors, lipstick and perfume) were sent to their principal’s office. Principal Snaggle told Malcolm that he wanted to sentence the monsters that he had summoned to a day on Exxillium. Exxillium is a wonderful paradise with bright sunshine and blue, fresh air. Now to a monster, that life is terrible. They prefer gloomy days full of stinky air, broken furniture, ghouls and spiders.
When they got there, they were greeted by a crowd of misfits who had been sent to Exxillium over the years. (Misfits are monsters who don’t obey the monster rules.) They went on a tour with a witch named Zelda. After the tour, she told them that a new rule had taken place. Any misfit monsters who didn’t straighten up quick would be sentenced to Exxillium for the rest of their lives. That’s when Malcolm walked away and started talking to Goony, a monster misfit who liked to tell jokes.
Then Frank met Malcolm’s dad. It turned out that he was on Exxillium. BUT, he was supposed to be dead after going into a big fire. So, how could Frank be talking to Malcolm’s dad??
Will Frank figure out all of the mysteries and be able to monster up enough so he wouldn’t have to be sent back to Exxillium? Or will he be sent to Exxillium for the rest of his life? As I always say, read the book to find out!
I recommend this book to readers who love adventure stories filled with love and happiness but also exciting twists and turns leading to the truth!
A few helpful things I like to say about the books I read:
“Run and Get Mom” (how I describe the scariness factor):
There were a few scary parts, but they weren’t that scary.
“Yucky-Lovey Stuff” (how I describe the romance factor):
There is no yucky-lovey stuff in this book. (Come on! This is a monster book!)
I give this book 5 wands.
It was really good. Before this book, I wasn’t really into monsters. They sort of scared me a little bit. But after this book, I’m interested in the life of monsters and I see that being scary doesn’t come to all monsters naturally.
Source: Review Copy
