Monsters Unleashed (Monsters Unleashed Series #1)

by John Kloepfer, Mark Oliver (Illustrator)

Overview

A monstrously fun new series from John Kloepfer, author of the fan-favorite series The Zombie Chasers, now in paperback.

Freddie Liddle has a big problem: Monsters. Giant, fire-breathing, electric-shocking, bone-crunching monsters are attacking his town. Even worse, it’s Freddie’s fault. After drawing monsters based on the meanest bullies in his class, Freddie used his school’s 3D printer to make models of them. But the last thing he expected was that the monsters would come to life and keep growing, and GROWING, and GROWING.

There’s just one way to stop these oversize beasts: recruit the bullies, since only they know how the monsters think. But teaming up with his worst enemies is Freddie’s worst nightmare. Can Freddie make friends with his bullies and save his town, or will the monsters have the final ROAR?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062290311
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/20/2018
Series:	Monsters Unleashed , #1
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

John Kloepfer is the author of the popular Monsters Unleashed and Zombie Chasers series, as well as the out-of-this-world alien trilogy Galaxy’s Most Wanted. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Jenny, and their dog, Doozy.

Mark Oliver likes being an illustrator because he gets to paint, draw, and use his creative genius in many different ways using a computer. Sometimes he does it so well, he wins awards for it (the Stockport Children’s Book Award in 2006 and 2011, among others). Mark’s very clever, but he never brags about how clever he is, just in case people ask him tricky questions about zombies, string theory, or moral relativism. Visit him at www.olly.net.

Editorial Reviews

The monsters are the real stars here, and readers may appreciate the inventive steps the kids have to take to bring them down.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Praise for the Zombie Chasers series: “Kloepfer’s first is a Zombieland for the middle-school set: funny, off-color and extremely gross. A great pick for the child who thought Diary of a Wimpy Kid just needed more motile corpses.” — Kirkus Reviews

Praise for the Zombie Chasers series: “A quick, fun read, loaded with jokes and middle–school sarcasm.” — School Library Journal

Praise for the Zombie Chasers series: “If there’s an award for the grossest descriptions of zombies, Kloepfer would win it. Preteen boys will love it.” — St Paul Pioneer Press

Praise for The Zombie Chasers 2: Undead Ahead: “Written with tongue firmly in cheek-and other body parts all over the landscape-this book will appeal to reluctant readers, particularly middle school boys.” — School Library Journal

“Frequent illustrations and a goofy plot make this a good choice for reluctant or emerging readers and fans of Dav Pilkey’s “Captain Underpants.”” — School Library Journal

From the Publisher

Praise for the Zombie Chasers series: “If there’s an award for the grossest descriptions of zombies, Kloepfer would win it. Preteen boys will love it.

St Paul Pioneer Press

The monsters are the real stars here, and readers may appreciate the inventive steps the kids have to take to bring them down.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

The monsters are the real stars here, and readers may appreciate the inventive steps the kids have to take to bring them down.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

05/01/2017
Gr 4–6—Freddie hates being picked on at school, but there is just no place a six-foot-four sixth grader can hide. Cruelest of all are the three bullies Freddie has dubbed the Monsters. To vent his frustration, Freddie draws cartoon monsters that represent the inner monster of each nemesis. When Freddie and his friend Manny are left alone to clean up the art room after a no-holds-barred paint battle with the Monsters, the two boys seize the opportunity to make 3-D printouts of the mini-monsters from Freddie's drawings. Shockingly, the small pink plastic figurines come to life and immediately escape from the boys' control. Even more problematic is the monsters' disturbing ability to grow to great size when exposed to water. Soon the monsters are wreaking havoc in the school and around town, and the boys need to capture the monsters and minimize the damage. When Freddie and Manny realize that their enemies hold the key to stopping the three creatures, they find themselves teaming up with the very bullies on whom the monsters are modeled. There is no new ground broken in this enemies-become-friends book, but the tentative relationship among Freddie, Manny, and their tormentors is authentic. The initially stereotypical characters (jock, nerd, geek) evolve slowly and exhibit realistic reactions as they learn to work together. The malevolent trio often revert to form, insulting Freddie and even angering the real monsters, before the team finally triumphs. The ending hints at more monster adventures to come. VERDICT Frequent illustrations and a goofy plot make this a good choice for reluctant or emerging readers and fans of Dav Pilkey's "Captain Underpants."—Nancy Nadig, Penn Manor School District, Lancaster, PA

School Library Journal

2017-04-17
A New Mexico middle schooler's incautious use of a mysterious new art-room printer sets off a plague of bad-tempered monsters in this riotous series opener.Inspired by the three bullies who have harassed him unmercifully since his arrival in Gallup, the toy-sized plastic monsters that Freddie Liddle, a white boy, designs not only hop down from the 3-D printer, but absorb water like sponges, swell hugely in size, and lumber off on wildly destructive rampages. "Holy freakin' crudballs!" as his friend Manny Vasquez eloquently puts it. Convinced by Manny's (rather questionable) assertion that it "takes a bully to fight a bully," Freddie resolutely sets out to recruit his tormenters—Jordan the jock (depicted in the illustrations with dark skin), drama queen Nina (black), and "mega-nerd" Quincy (white)—to help neutralize the roaring, superpowered beasts. Kloepfer (Into the Dorkness, 2015, etc.) concocts a mad scramble that Oliver decorates with lurid drawings of toothy, glaring monsters and, to take them on, a squad of kids notable for its comical diversity of body size and shape. Latino Manny (cued by name) and illustrations reflecting skin tone excepted, Gallup's racial and ethnic diversity goes largely unexplored, a particular travesty given that the 40 percent Native American town calls itself "the Indian Capital of the World." By the end the unlikely allies have formed an uneasy bond, with shrunken but still active monsters in their backpacks and a printer that Freddie has cannily hidden in his locker to set up sequels. Gives 3-D printing a whole new dimension (just add water). (Fantasy. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews