Upir and the Monster Gang

This is one of two books this week that I had Olivia read and do a review for me. Which she clearly thought she was totally badass, so this was actually a lot of fun to do with her.

Upir and the Monster Gang - Sharron Thornton

















Upir, a young vampire, gets entangled in a secret plot that might change the monster world forever. He joins forces with Payne, a pumpkin headed scarecrow, Gusty, a smart aleck ghost, Isabelle, a purple eyed witch, and Hawthorne, a green hairy creature. Along the way their nights become treacherous when they have to dodge flying skulls, avoid man eating plants, run from a mad scientist and most of all, steer clear of Muriel, a gorgon girl with slithering snakes for hair. She and her nasty monster friends have vowed to destroy Upir and his gang.

First up, what a cool book! Olivia is eight and she really loved it. She said she liked Isabelle the best because she is a girl, she is a witch, and girl witches are the best. She also liked Upir because he is smart, even though he kind of started the whole thing. We both really loved the illustrations- holy cow were those cool. I mean, I know for books aimed at the 9-12 crowd you'll get a few illustrations and some of the books Olivia reads the illustrations are kind of lame. This one has far more detail and are the kind that libraries would hang up as posters encouraging kids to pick up a book and read. Olivia even said it was cool because it talked about bullying a little bit and they were talking about bullying at school. 

Overall? We both really loved it. Seriously, such a cute book for that age group, it's a story they can follow easily, and if it turns into a series- it's one that kids would keep reading all the way through. 

But in order to make this all happen, there is a Kickstarter project running from October 1 through November 16. Go HERE to watch a cute video about it, and hopefully donate a few bucks to help this project get off the ground. All of the money from the Kickstarter campaign is going to go to the publication of the first edition of the book. And just think- your donation of $20 (or more/less) could get the new Harry Potter off the ground. Can you imagine? It could be really great. OR, you could fulfill someone's dream to see their book in print. Either way, it's a win.