The Monster In Me [Hardcover]

Grade 7-9-Long years of neglect with her drug-addicted mother have left Natalie, 14, emotionally distant, willing herself to need no one while enduring recurrent dreams in which she is nonhuman and powerless. Temporarily living with loving and stable foster parents, the teen begins to use her ability as a runner, takes tentative steps to connect with the caring people around her, and realizes that her ambivalent feelings toward her mother include love. Natalie's first-person narrative is filled with dialogue, short sentences, and bursts of emotion. Memories pepper present events, allowing readers to understand the protagonist more fully without slowing the story. The writing style, together with the book's trim length and large type, makes this a good choice for reluctant readers. Despite minor flaws, including too readily resolved friction between Natalie and a foster sister, this is a highly readable first novel.
Faith Brautigam, Gail Borden Public Library,Elgin, IL
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 5-8. Thirteen-year-old Natalie Wills, a foster child, has been removed from her drug-addicted mother's care and placed first in a group home and then with the Parkers, a caring family determined to make Natalie's life a bit better. But Natalie is both a cynic and a realist; she knows her new, peaceful life is only temporary. Eventually Mom will convince yet another social worker that she is clean and wants her daughter back. All that Natalie can control is her running, a skill that allows her to escape, not lingering long enough to get close to anyone at home or at school. This first novel is a foster-child story with a twist. The Parker family is loving and sincere in trying to help Natalie; and she, in turn, gradually--very gradually--responds. Yet the underlying truth of a child's deep need and longing for her mother, regardless of Mom's ability to parent, is always present and unresolved. While the book is hopeful, it is tinged with resignation, feelings readers will understand and appreciate. Frances Bradburn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Grade 7-9-Long years of neglect with her drug-addicted mother have left Natalie, 14, emotionally distant, willing herself to need no one while enduring recurrent dreams in which she is nonhuman and powerless. Temporarily living with loving and stable foster parents, the teen begins to use her ability as a runner, takes tentative steps to connect with the caring people around her, and realizes that her ambivalent feelings toward her mother include love. Natalie's first-person narrative is filled with dialogue, short sentences, and bursts of emotion. Memories pepper present events, allowing readers to understand the protagonist more fully without slowing the story. The writing style, together with the book's trim length and large type, makes this a good choice for reluctant readers. Despite minor flaws, including too readily resolved friction between Natalie and a foster sister, this is a highly readable first novel. Faith Brautigam, Gail Borden Public Library,Elgin, IL Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. (School Library Journal )

The Monster in Me, is the story of a troubled thirteen-year-old girl named Natalie Wills. Natalie's mother has just gone into a drug rehab program, so Natalie is placed in a foster home with the Parker family. Suffering from years of emotional neglect, the teenager has many problems to work through besides missing her mother. Compounding Natalie's problems are nightmares in which she thinks she is a monster. However, with the help of fellow runner Mr. Parker, her school friend Mary, and the track coach Mr. Landers, she begins to learn how to cope and appreciate the stable people in her life.

Middle-grades author Mette Ivie Harrison has known since she was in kindergarten that she wanted to be a writer. As she told SATA, her dream got another boost at age eleven, when her older sister married picture book writer Rick Walton, who gave her tips on writing and being published. Harrison even sent a book off to a publishing company when she was in tenth grade. It was not accepted, but in their rejection letter, the company encouraged her to send more works. However, Harrison's father encouraged her to find a "real job" because he did not think that writing was a stable enough career. Not until the grown-up Harrison started questioning her "real job" did she finally decide to try again to become a published writer. She got a PhD in German Literature at Princeton University, taught for four years, and then--I got my first story published, and quit. She now lives in Utah with her husband and 5 children, ages 5 to 14. She writes during nap time, or at 4 in the morning, or while the broccoli for dinner is burning. She loves to write the kind of books that she loves to read. She also do some racing in triathlon.