I never read Little Women. I saw the shout-out that the classic book received in Ride or Die, felt momentarily guilty for it, but it’s not enough to make me read it. Little Monsters alludes to that classic title by having “Little” in the same regal font as “Women”, but having the latter word physically scratched out via a series of horizontal claw marks. Underneath that is “Monsters”, hastily scrawled as if someone’s leaving the scene of a cattle mutilation. You don’t need to have read the timeless book it references to be attracted to Little Monsters. This is a retelling of that story, and updated in ways that will engage young readers.
At the bare minimum, girls in upper-elementary school have heard of Little Women. The content in the original is appropriate and timeless for them, but the pacing might be too slow for today’s tweens to accept as a viral literary movement. There are abridged versions that tell the same story and cut to the chase quicker, but that’s a topic for a different time.
Little Monsters follows the same template as Little Women, but shifts the setting to modern times and has age-appropriate monsters. The March sisters are living in a foster home. Meg is the eldest and erstwhile leader. Their neighbor is Laurie, and John Brooke is a friend of theirs who factors into Meg’s life as a confidant, and possibly is a monster. The book is set in Salem, Massachusetts in the days preceding Halloween.
Little Monsters knows its target audience and consistently keeps its eyes on the prize. The book is intended for upper-elementary through lower-middle school girls, who will likely find it in the library or hear about it from their friends. At that age, girls read much more than boys, and the test scores back it up. Between smartphones, the already low attention span of boys, feckless school districts, and parents, it’s an uphill battle to get kids, especially boys, to read.
The majority of tweens who read Little Monsters will be girls. Aside from the factors already determining the avoidably illiterate fate of boys, the book looks like it’s marketed towards girls, but that’s not a bad thing. Books targeted at girls tend not to have monsters or a legitimate sense of evil. Monster books attract boys, so some on the older side, say those in middle school, might check it out. The fact that one half of the faux title is scratched out as if a monster swiped it will certainly add to their curiosity.
Meg and the girls are getting ready for Halloween. They’re doing odd jobs around town in an effort to save up money so they can get cool costumes. However, this is Salem, a place where witches and monsters have more lineage than they do in the average town. Reports of livestock disappearing are increasing, John Brooke and Meg are flirting, the kids at school are acting weird, and the March sisters are just trying to keep it together so their foster mom doesn’t kick them out.
As mglit, Little Monsters works because it threads the guessing game of who is the monster and how they factor into the greater story very effectively. Older readers might be able to guess the punchline before it’s revealed. This book is intended for that audience slightly younger. They still squirm and grin when the character is revealing their crush, heck, they still use that term to describe someone they like. It’s that age when you know what the character should do, are disappointed when they inevitably don’t do the correct thing, but hold out hope for them eventually making things right.
That previous sentence could describe readers or people of any age, but in this case, it’s intended for those kids who are learning to love to read. Little Monsters has just enough monsters to make girls want to explore that side of books a little more. The characters are relatable to where those who haven’t read its inspiration might seek it out, if nothing else then to see how this retelling of the story differs. It’s an age-appropriate mash-up in the realm of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, except not as overt. This is the silly (if kids are in on the joke), fun-to-read book that will get kids (mainly girls) to grin and share their opinions as to who they think is the monster.
Little Monsters is by Maire Roche and is available on Aladdin, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division.
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