Illustrated by Felicita Sala
2018, Alfred A. Knopf
40 pgs.
Goodreads rating: 4.02 - 396 ratings
My rating: 3.5
Endpapers: Dark Green
Illustrations: Mostly black & white with small amounts of faded-out color
1st line/s: 'Two hundred years ago, on a wild, stormy night, in a beautiful house on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland, a young woman named Mary sat at her dressing table. She and her friends were staying in the house for the season, visiting Lord Byron, the famous English poet. Mary could hear the others still talking downstairs while she brushed her hair by candlelight, thinking of stories: stories she'd read, stories she'd heard, stories she wanted to tell."
My comments: Not only is this a book that can be used to introduce Frankenstein to a high school class, but also for elementary kids to get an introduction to the actual book - not the movie - of Frankenstein. In my opinion it's a little choppy, but interesting and fairly easy to follow. The pictures are dark, but so is the story of Frankenstein, so....
Goodreads: On the bicentennial of Frankenstein, join Mary Shelley on the night she created the most frightening monster the world has ever seen.
On a stormy night two hundred years ago, a young woman sat in a dark house and dreamed of her life as a writer. She longed to follow the path her own mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, had started down, but young Mary Shelley had yet to be inspired.
As the night wore on, Mary grew more anxious. The next day was the deadline that her friend, the poet Lord Byron, had set for writing the best ghost story. After much talk of science and the secrets of life, Mary had gone to bed exhausted and frustrated that nothing she could think of was scary enough. But as she drifted off to sleep, she dreamed of a man that was not a man. He was a monster.
This fascinating story gives readers insight into the tale behind one of the world's most celebrated novels and the creation of an indelible figure that is recognizable to readers of all ages.
On a stormy night two hundred years ago, a young woman sat in a dark house and dreamed of her life as a writer. She longed to follow the path her own mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, had started down, but young Mary Shelley had yet to be inspired.
As the night wore on, Mary grew more anxious. The next day was the deadline that her friend, the poet Lord Byron, had set for writing the best ghost story. After much talk of science and the secrets of life, Mary had gone to bed exhausted and frustrated that nothing she could think of was scary enough. But as she drifted off to sleep, she dreamed of a man that was not a man. He was a monster.
This fascinating story gives readers insight into the tale behind one of the world's most celebrated novels and the creation of an indelible figure that is recognizable to readers of all ages.
