kirkusreviews.com
A young monster learns to be brave
as she struggles with anxiety.
Harriet “Ari” Hairstein wants to be
a monsterologist when she grows up, but when she has to give a presentation in
monsterology class, she panics. Even though she’ll be talking about her
favorite animal, the manglemane lion, when she thinks about speaking in public,
she can’t breathe, her stomach hurts, and her heart pounds. Ari is plagued by
catastrophic thinking and nightmares until her friends Marvin and Timmy, each
of whom tackled their own troubles in previous Monster Diaries (ADHD and screen
addiction, respectively), offer to help her with ST4 strategies, or STOP: Take
Time To Think. The book emulates a Diary of a Wimpy Kid design, with lined
pages, faux hand-printed typeface, and kidlike line drawings. Helpful backmatter
includes a parents’ guide with activities for alleviating stress and anxiety in
children and instructions on how to use co-author Melmed’s ST4 program. A wide
array of monster types populates Ari’s world. There are clues that Ari’s loving
family is Jewish: Bobbe (her grandmother) is similar to the Yiddish Bubbe, and Harriet’s
nickname, “Ari,” means lion in Hebrew; immigrant Bobbe is possibly Polish (she
makes a lot of borscht, or in their case, roarscht, and pierogis).
Readers who experience anxiety will
undoubtedly identify with—and hopefully find comfort in—Ari’s story. (Fantasy.
7-11)
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