Pretty Monsters

Pretty Monsters: Stories by Kelly Link
published by Viking Juvenile, 2008
400 pages
approximate age range: 13+

What sort of tales would a collection contain if it were written with a sly smile and only during the witching hours of moonless nights? When reading Pretty Monsters, it's easy to imagine author Kelly Link spinning these stories for us from a distant world, like a mischievous fairy godmother crafting the perfect bedtime stories for her beloved, and slightly twisted, charges. For instance, within Pretty Monsters readers will gleefully meet a plethora of intriguing characters such as: a hapless poet who digs up the wrong grave and finds himself unable to escape its curious and lovely undead occupant; sisters who find that their awesome new baby sitter might not be an entirely normal, or living, young woman; a fan of a fantastical tv show who makes a surprising discovery that his favorite fantasy world may not be the imaginative fiction its viewers have believed it to be; and a girl who searches for her late aunt's lost furry handbag that magically holds a demon dog and an entire town.

Though its content may be difficult to briefly describe to prospective readers, Pretty Monsters is an engaging collection of deliciously bizarre, enchanting, and wholly creative short stories that will ensnare anyone who loves magical realism, curious events, and subtle doses of the supernatural. Many stories begin somewhat normally with characters and situations that seem perfectly reasonable, but then Link weaves her spell and each narrative quietly, but surely, turns to something that readers cannot possibly expect, but will delight them just the same. Link's storytelling skills and her use of language are exquisite and though Pretty Monsters is often labeled as teen fiction for its plucky young protagonists, it can easily charm older readers as well.

Read-alike suggestions:

Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link

Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link

St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell

Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender

Unexpected Magic: Collected Stories by Diana Wynne Jones