A Monster Calls

"The monster showed up after midnight. As they do.

But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting. He’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming…

This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth."

This young adult fiction novel by Patrick Ness is something that I'm very interested in with regards to broaching the subject of death among children.Obviously by working with a children's hospice for my current animation, the subject is constantly there. The Claire House team want me to focus on the uplifting and encouraging aspects of their work and not dwell on the topic of a child being taken too soon, but I think it is important for me to see how other illustrators and authors have tackled the issue in order to be aware, even if I will not face the challenge fully myself. It's interesting to see that books like, A Monster Calls and The Dark have emerged in recent years. Perhaps, in an age where children have access to the internet and all the information it has to offer, and some would argue that childhood innocence is lost earlier; this honest and straightforward approach to tackling fears is the better option, rather than skirting around the issues?