Book Review: Monstrous: The Lore, Gore, and Science behind Your Favorite Monsters by Carlyn Beccia

Monstrous: The Lore, Gore, and Science behind Your Favorite Monsters by Carlyn Beccia is a children's non fiction book. Could Dr. Frankenstein's machine ever animate a body? Why should vampires drink from veins and not arteries? What body parts are best for zombies to eat? (It's not brains.) This fascinating encyclopedia of monsters delves into the history and science behind eight legendary creatures, from Bigfoot and the kraken to zombies and more. Find out each monster's origin story and the real-world history that informed it, and then explore the science of each creature in fun and surprising ways. Tips and infographics—including monster anatomy, how to survive a vampire attack, and real-life giant creatures of the deep sea—make this a highly visual and fun-to-browse book.

Monstrous is well organized and written. The book offers a historic and scientific background to some of the legends of monsters, magic, and more. The text is well written. It is very informative, with bits of humor throughout. Even when the subject gets a little dense or shares what I would consider fairly well known information, the text never feels unaccessible or condescending. I enjoyed that even while I knew a great deal of the information- as I am a fan or folklore and mythology- there were some new things to learn as well as some deep enjoyment in seeing some of my more esoteric knowledge confirmed or expanded on. I also greatly enjoyed the artwork in the illustrations and the the styles for the backgrounds and infographics. It was on point and helped reinforce the information, keep the reader's interest, and entertain. The combination of fact and fun was pretty much perfect. The author even took the time to mention when science has been wrong, I think this is important to remind all readers because it shows that there is always more to learn and more research that can be done. I was very happy to see a bibliography, glossary, and index in the endpages. Too often I see these things neglected or poorly done in children's non fiction- expecting them to ignore it or not notice. In this book the list of sources and citations was very well done and could result in interested readers doing further reading, investigating, and research on their own. This encouragement always makes me happy. 

Monstrous is a well written book that offers the tools of science, history, and a little humor to explain the truth about creatures like vampire, zombie, and more. Good for monster fans, and for giving fact based information that could ease the fears of some that are non so fond of monsters. I just pre ordered this to share with my kids.