Fiction for Teens

Every night since his mum started treatment for cancer, Connor O’Malley has suffered from the same nightmare. One night, it’s different. At exactly 12:07, the Monster, formed from a yew tree, goes walking. In return for telling 3 tales Connor must tell him something he has told no one – the truth.

Not only did I thoroughly enjoy this book, I feel like I learnt something because the tales that the Monster told had good morals in the end. At the end of the book, their meanings all come together and their relevance is revealed.

As with the other Patrick Ness books I have read (which I highly recommend) I found it very moving and emotional because the feelings of the characters were so vividly described and the relationships with the characters were well developed.

On the inside cover of this book it mentions that the beginning and the ideas for the book were created by the Carnegie medal winning author Siobhan Dowd who was unable to finish the book before she passed away in 2007. As the book was partly written by a cancer sufferer it made the book feel more realistic.

I watched the film prior to reading the book, and I loved it – the acting is amazing and the way the have created the monster is very realistic. I really recommend it!