Will Allen and the Great Monster Detective
Jason Edwards
Reviewed by A. E.
Jaskiewicz
Will
Allen is just a regular kid, sort of. He
is a good problem solver, or detective of
sorts. Like, he always knows when his
mom bakes cookies, even after she cleans up all the evidence. Or, he knows where is dad misplaced his golf
clubs. But, when Will Allen finds out he
has a monster under his bed, he has to get some special from Bigelow
Hawkins,
the Great Monster Detective.
Will
Allen and the Great Monster Detective is a fun story
for kids. It is full of humor, has some
scary elements, and it covers problems that kids can really relate to. The story sort of takes on the age old issue
of the monster under the bed, and it gives a whole new reason to why
kids
believe in monsters. To put it very
simply, if kids can confront what has really scared them in the past,
they will
be able to get rid of their monsters.
The
general plot of the story is this, Will Allen is
convinced there is a monster living under his bed.
But, there are a few problems with this. One,
Will’s parents, like most parents, don’t
believe there is a monster living under his bed. And
two, Will is in fifth grade. He is too old
to have a monster living under
his bed. The only person who he can tell
is his best friend, Jeannine. When
Jeannine can’t really offer him any help in the matter, Will receives a
mysterious business card from Bigelow Hawkins, the Great Monster
Detective. When Will summons Bigelow, he
then has to face all of his biggest fears to find out which monster is
really
giving him the problem.
Throughout
the story, the characters that we get to learn
the most about are Will and Bigelow.
Both characters come across as generally likeable, even if a
little bit
quirky. Will juts seems like your
average fifth grade boy, while Bigelow is something totally different,
as one
might think a monster hunter might be.
We don’t learn as much about Jeannine or Will’s parents, but
they also
didn’t play a significant part in the story.
We do learn just enough to make the characters relevant to the
plot, and
it is suggested we may learn more about Jeannine as the series goes on.
On
a slight downside of the book, while it does have a
very strong message, the subtle manner in which the message is
presented may be
over the head of some readers. But, I
think that most readers in the intended age group should be able to
figure out
what is happening and why.
Will
Allen and the Great Monster Detective is a fun and
engaging story for early middle grade readers.
It involves problems that many kids face, but may be too
embarrassed to
talk about. I think it is a story which
most kids, boys or girls, will be able to enjoy, and it should keep
their
interest.