REVIEW: Memento Monstrum : Bedtime Tales with Grandpa Dracula by Jochen Til
Where The Bad Guys, Hotel Transylvania and The Addams Family meet How to Babysit a Grandpa—a monstrously fun bedtime tale collection!
This is your warning! This book contains Count Dracula’s memoirs. And as you would expect, there are plenty of hideous creatures in it—giant yetis, insidious werewolves, slimy fish monsters—maybe you shouldn’t read it! You might learn things you didn’t know about monsters before. Hair-raising things that make these monsters appear . . .friendly . . .even downright human. So, take my advice. Put the book down and move on before you get caught in its clutches.
Sincerely, Van Helsing
PS-But if you do read this book, you will be enchanted by the incredibly imaginative full-color illustrations through out, the fabulously appealing cover, and the original wit captured within.
Review
I think the fact that I finished this book and immediately went to look and see what else I could read by Till and Rauers should say it all. I cheered when I saw that there are two more books in this series. And then I whimpered when I saw that Vols 2 and 3 are only available in the original German language editions. ::sob:: I need to start learning German.
This is a delightful book for grandparents (and, okay, parents) to read to their own little monsters. Poor Grandpa Vlad is being left with his three grandchildren while his wife, his daughter, and her husband are all off doing other things. At first Grandpa is terrified of being the one in charge – which makes me wonder why grandma never put him in charge of their daughter. Strict instructions have been left and alarm clocks set so that the grandchildren will be in their coffins before the sun comes up. But meanwhile the kids are a little bored until Grandpa starts telling them a story.
From cheering a ballet dancing Yeti, to finding out what vampire blood will do to a fish, to learning which spider leg to shake when meeting one for the first time, to discovering how Vlad became a secret agent, to seeing who sat in on a jam session in Germany with The Beatles, all while Vlad ducks and dodges Van Helsing – the singularly inept zombie monster hunter – Grandpa astounds his little grandmonsters. He also shows them that being kind, understanding, supporting, and forgiving are good things. Every little monster needs to know that. The illustrations scattered through the story are utterly adorable.
Adults like me can zip through the book in a matter of hours while adults reading to children or children reading on their own can pace themselves at a story each evening. Don’t worry, the alarms work and everyone is well protected before evening arrives, it’s lovely to watch Grandpa and his grandchildren bond (Grandpa’s cool!), and in the end, Grandpa realizes what a modern cell/mobile phone can accomplish. B+
~Jayne
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I ordered a copy for my four nephews and nieces, who are almost old enough to enjoy it. Thank you for the review.
@LML: I hope they enjoy it! The illustrations alone are worth it. Now if only the second and third volumes get translated.