… wore tailored trouser suits, dyed her hair to keep out the grey, and said things that made no sense at all, like ‘Sixty is the new fifty’ or ‘Classic cars need the most expensive polish.’ What did that even mean? She emailed birthday cards, argued with waiters and still had a job. That’s how grandmas are supposed to look and act, in Connor’s view but his Conor’s grandmother occasionally makes an appearance, but she’s not the “crinkley and smiley with white hair” kind of grandma who giggles at Christmas after a glass of sherry. Dad isn’t much on the scene because he’s living in America with his a new family. It follows 13-year-old Conor O’Malley who lives alone with his ailing mum. They communicated entirely through a third party – the art director at Walker Books, Kay told The Guardian newspaper in a 2012 interview.Ī Monster Calls is a fantasy novel aimed at young teen readers. That’s an astonishing achievement considering that Patrick Ness and Jim Kay never met until after the book was completed. A Monster Calls is in fact a book where the illustrations and text are in perfect harmony. I’m conscious I haven’t really talked about the narrative but don’t think that’s because I felt the text was somehow inferior to the illustrations.

There’s plenty of ambiguity for the reader to interpret the scene for themselves. But here’s the really clever part: although the illustrations are detailed, they still leave huge scope for the imagination. As a young reader I think I have been petrified. You turn a page on which you’ve just read about the creature that comes knocking on a young boy’s bedroom window, and suddenly you see this huge shape yourself.

Jim kay a monster calls