A review by jen286
The Boy Who Drew Monsters by Keith Donohue

3.0

I wanted to love this story, but it ended up being just okay. I love the idea of this kid drawing monsters who come to life, how his family saw the monsters at various moments in the story, the monsters themselves, all of that, but...it didn't do a good job tieing it all together. The reactions of the characters at different points didn't really make sense (for example the mom comes home to the 2 kids all alone in the house as the dad has disappeared! Does she immediately call the cops or something to try and go search - I know it is dark, but he had been out on the beach...When the dad shows up with scratches on his neck that are bleeding a lot after being out in the super cold for hours is the first thought we need to get you to the doctor? No. No, it is fine. Let's all just be calm and talk about what happened and not really do anything. It was so strange! If that were me I would be going crazy with worry, would have at least tried to look for my husband, would have immediately taken him to the hospital even without the scratches on his neck. Hello hypothermia? He was outside in the freezing cold for hours! After he passed out! That deserves a check by the doctors!!). So it was...not the best, but still enough that I did enjoy to make it an okay read. That and the ending was really disappointing. Like oh, okay. I would have preferred the ghosties that the author hinted at the whole time, but then ended up being not really relevant at all. Oh well.