Customer Reviews

The Monstrous Memoirs of a Mighty McFearless

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I read this book with my 8-year old daughter and we laughed quite a bit, totally engaged in the plot and characters. You can't help but love the heroine, Minerva McFearless, particularly when she's exhibiting her love-hate relationship with her little brother, Max. The writing is wonderful...full of alliteration and assonance that made some lines like tongue-twisters and others like poetry. My daughter is easily creeped out, yet we got through this one despite the goriness in some scenes. I believe the humor balanced it out.

No need to compare to Rowling, either...I've read all the Potter books three times each. The Monstrous Memoirs is entirely unique with it's own dark world that borrows nothing from J.K.'s brilliance. It's brilliant all on its own.

I saw Zappa on a panel during Comic-con. He was there to discuss Young Adult books. I was there with a friend and was not really interested in the panel but hey, it was something to do for the time slot. He changed my mind as soon as he began speaking.

Zappa impressed me. The book impressed me. His passion for this project was jubilant and infectious. As he spoke, you could see the love he had for working towards a good book and wanting it to be for the kids...something I think he succeeded in doing. The McFearless book is a great romp and looks to be a good series if he continues along with it... which I believe he is.

I disagree with one of the editorial reviews' take that this was a commercial venture...and that it borrowed from a slice of the Potter books. I can see how that kind of cynicism would rear its head where young adult books is concerned but it's unwarranted here. Zappa has written a book not to sell anything but because he wanted to write a book for those kids who needed something to sparkle in their minds when they read... something he struggled with himself when he was that age.

If you ever hear him speak on the process of writing this book...and how hard it was for him... you can hear that passion. And it is that passion that drives the story between those pages.

By the way, if you do purchase this book for your young adults, please be sure to ask them to not try out the recipes unless over a very large tarp. It's meant to be a fun interactive book. It definitely comes across that way.

My two twin grandchildren age 6 a boy and girl, I talked into letting me read book.

We shared a wonderful summer day together. After each chapter they had many wonderful questions. Now when we are togethe there first request is for me to read it to them again.

They can't wait for the next enstalment.

Spend a day with your child reading this wonderful book you won't be sorry

I gave this to my son (age 9) for Christmas. I was a fan of Frank Zappa and thought it would be fun to give my son something that Frank's son created. I didn't know what to expect, because I didn't read it myself. Well, my son started reading and was done in a couple days. He read for hours at a time (he doesn't even do that with Harry Potter). And he LOVED it. He told me all about it while he was reading and then asked me to read it when he was done. Which, I'll do. So 5 stars for a book my son devoured. I hope Ahmet does continue the series, that would make at least one young reader very happy.

I purchased this book at a school book fair. It was to be a read in the car book. Well, we started it out that way. It was a difficult book to read aloud, but the kids enjoyed listening to it. Their imaginations could really take off with the story.

I took it along on a field trip I chaperoned with my 2nd grade son. Reading aloud to him in a noisy school bus, I realized how quiet it had gotten. Several students all stopped to listen to the story. They were really engaged in the story. Even when I stopped, a few girls whined for me to read more, and asked to borrow the book, so they could read.

We enjoyed the "extras" that were included. The making of monster repellent recipes and brief descriptions of the monsters. The "Book" (Monsterminicon) which is what I referred to her as I read aloud was really full of good information.

I would recommend this book to young advanced readers... as it is full of made up words. Any age group could sit and listen to it, though, and throughly enjoy it.

In this delightful book, Minerva McFearless discovers that her family has been monsterminators for generations--fearlessly fighting evil so that children can sleep safely in their beds. Naturally, she and her younger brother Max want a piece of the action, but their dad think they are too young for such dangers. So, behind his back they secretly study the Monstranomicon and learn all they can about the horrible monsters and how to battle them.

And thank goodness they do, because the more than vile Zarmaglorg has his minions kidnap their dad and only Minerva and Max can save him! Well, with some help from Ms. Monstranomicon and the mysterious Mr. Devilstone.

While there are spots in this book that might be more trite than others, the author's enthusiasm fills it so full that one can't help but enjoy it. His subtle (and not always so subtle) puns, plays on words and borrowing from other authors (I'm sure Lovecraft would have to have loved the Monstranomicon) make it a treat for adults reading it, while the descriptions of the monsters and the monster repellents in the Monstranomicon have to be enjoyable for everyone.

The real gem of the book, though, it's crowing glory is the illustrations. Every page is illustrated lushly, well amusingly anyway, with childlike drawings of monsters, sepia photographs of the action, and various detritus from like moths, rocks, monster blood and gumballs. I couldn't wait to turn the page to see just what would be on the next two pages, and would it have anything to do with the plot, and if so, what? Again, I have to say that Zappa's love for his project is so obvious and his love , and the incredible amount of work that went into the illustrations, glosses over any small faults that The Monstrous Memoirs of a Mighty McFearless does have and rounds it out to a 5/5 reading experience.

I will admit this book can be a bit advanced for some. I can see dyslexics becoming confused and I can see a child may not understand all of the vocabulary (more geared towards 10-11, not 8), but this was a VERY entertaining book.

My daughter, 8 & I read this together like the above poster. She laughed, she wanted to create the Monster repellants and she & I had conversations about the book - it is HIGHLY entertaining & I highly suggest it to someone who is willing to read with their child or if their child is older & gets some of the humor used.

The doodles & pictures (selma's pic is inside)are a nice addition - Zappa may not know child reading development but his imagination is worth reading into.

A book choice for children to read for clever and creative writing stills that use advance descriptive language that is so very engaging. An excellent choice t to interest children with authors.

I thought this was a great, fun, funny book especially for my 10 year old boy. We both loved it-we listened to it on CD. The music was great and especially the final song- "So you want to be McFearless." We both laughed out loud thoughtout, and I loved the recipes. I would think anyone who loved Harry Potter would like this book. Monsters, magic, legends, and kids discovering who they are- what fun. I look forward to new books by this fun author to share with my kids.

I read Zappa's book to my fifth grade class while using my document camera to project the pages onto a screen so they could also enjoy the doodles and artwork throughout the book. The kids adored this book and as soon as we finished it, begged me to see if he had written a sequel...please say there will be one! The names were tongue twisters, that's for sure, but very funny...kids love it when a teacher has to say "Doominstinkinfart". I was impressed by this book - loved the Harry Potter books - loved this one! I use some of the passages to teach my writing classes.