She Made a Monster

July 1, 2018

Gr 3-5-The bicentenary of Frankenstein has generated a lot of attention for the origin story of its author, Mary Godwin Shelley. With this title, Fulton demonstrates the challenges of presenting literary history for younger readers. Sala's illustrations convey the gothic tone of the source material, complete with spooky trees, jagged lightning, and Shelley's famously aquiline profile. Fulton has the harder task of translating Shelley's Romantic ideas of inspiration "like a bolt of lightning" into the rhetoric of empowerment. Although "Mary wants to become a writer," she is lonely, plagued by writer's block, and sidelined by egotistical male poets. Overhearing Lord Byron and Percy Shelley's talk of reanimated corpses, Shelley poses two crucial questions: "Wouldn't it be...more terrifying, to be such a creature" and, after dreaming of a monster, "What did it want from her?" These questions of identification and purpose are crucial, but unresolved in the narrative. Statements like "her mother was right! A woman's writing could be just as important as a man's" feel off-center, because, unlike Frankenstein's creature, this version of Shelley never raises her voice against her oppressors or triumphantly presents her act of defiance. Indeed, readers leave her picking up her pen, before her novel fully comes to life. VERDICT Though slight on biography, this is a satisfyingly creepy take on a literary genius and the power of transforming nightmares. An additional purchase.-Katherine Magyarody, Texas A&M University, College Station

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 15, 2018
Fulton chooses a dramatic event in Mary Shelley's tumultuous life to illustrate how one of the most famous monsters in the world came to life. Mary; her fiance, the famous poet Percy Bysshe Shelley; and other friends, including the poet Byron, are gathered at Byron's villa on the shores of Lake Geneva. As a fearful thunderstorm rages, the conversation turns to the supernatural and the friends' response to Byron's challenge that each member of the group should write a ghost story. However, Mary cannot come up with an idea for a story. Two events inspire her. She overhears the men discussing the latest scientific experiments with galvanism, the process of inducing movement in dead creatures. And the opening scene of the novel came to her in a dream, featuring the monster in all his terrifying glory. Fulton gives the story a feminist twist, reminding readers of the influence of Mary's mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, whose "stirring words about democracy and the rights of women" spur her daughter to prove that "a woman's writing could be just as important as a man's." Sala's dramatic watercolor-and-ink illustrations, rendered in a controlled palette of predominately sepia and gray (excellent for limning livid, undead flesh), well-complemented by the classic typeface, evocatively depict the young white woman and the demons that beset her. An elegant picture book that will signal to young readers that there is more to the story than the familiar green-skinned monster. (Picture book/biography. 7-11)

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July 30, 2018
Inspired by Mary Shelley’s introduction to the 1831 edition of Frankenstein, this imagining of the classic’s creation acquaints readers to a true story of literary ingenuity. Two hundred years ago, a young Mary, dreaming of becoming a writer, visited the poet Lord Byron on the shore of Lake Geneva with her future husband Percy Bysshe Shelley and other friends. A competition to write the best ghost story, a conversation about electricity being used to reanimate a frog, and a haunting dream spur Shelley’s imagination until she finds her ghost story and sets about writing it. Moody illustrations by Sala, in jewel tones and shades of gray, mimic the atmosphere of Shelley’s best-known novel. A note from debut author Fulton explains included details that are not directly noted in the source material. This is a useful introduction to Shelley and a valuable touchstone for discussions about persistence and the creative process. Ages 4–8.

June 1, 2018
Grades K-3 Images of swirling smoke, laboratories full of jars, and hulking creatures on dusky, stormy backgrounds set the perfect atmosphere for this picture-book biography about Mary Shelley, which focuses on the inspiration for her iconic novel. Appropriately, it all starts on a dark and stormy night when Mary Shelley is mulling over a story. She thinks back on a tale she heard as a child, about a man who made a corpse move with electricity, as well as the pioneering feminist writings of her own mother, Mary Wollstonecraft. It's not until she sees a vision of a student cowering next to a hulking creature that it all starts to come together. Fulton's brief, lightly fictionalized account of Shelley's inspiration for her groundbreaking novel is written with classic ghost-story turns of phrase, and Sala's appropriately moody artwork is an ideal complement, particularly when pale, graceful Mary looks spooked by her creation but is ultimately serene and composed once she starts to write. Eye-catching artwork and engaging storytelling give this biography of a fascinating woman even more appeal.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)