Book Description
for Welcome to Monster Isle by Oliver Chin and Jeff Miracola
From the Publisher
Come along and meet unique, extraordinary, and huge creatures on a mysterious isle. It’s like Monster Hunter and Godzilla on Gilligan's Island!
On a fantastic voyage, a family discovers legendary monsters that come alive before their very eyes. A vacation goes awry when a perfect storm tosses their skipper’s tiny boat off course. Finnegan, his sister, parents, and dog Howl become seven castaways, stranded on a uncharted desert island!
Curiously, they venture into the unknown and encounter a menagerie of colorful and cackling creatures. These survivors see beasts bigger than life and straight from their wildest imaginations! But despite all their differences (and a menacing mountain), can everybody finally get along? Readers will learn about new animals and take a trip they’ll never forget being lost was never so fantastic!
Winner of Bookbuilders West award: 2009 Best children’s book cover. Artist of the Year at the GenCon 2011 annual convention, Jeff Miracola, a master monster maker, illustrates a zootopia from ancient lore including the Yowie (Australian Bigfoot), frosty Abominable Snowman, regal Gryphon, and swimming Ogopogo (Canada’s Loch Ness Monster).
Kids will love exploring a wonderful world full of bizarre beings. Parents will admire marvelously rendered artwork and pop culture references. Teachers and Librarians will appreciate how students will even learn about science fiction and mythology.
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"Jeff's work has fascinated me since we first met while working on games like Dungeons & Dragons. His art and imagination were cutting-edge then, and what he brings to the children's book world is cutting-edge now."
- Tony DiTerlizzi, co-creator of The Spiderwick Chronicles
"Welcome to Monster Isle is a children's book I would have loved to read to my own kids...The kids will love these monsters, and adults reading this book to those kids will appreciate the homages, the lively plot, and the fun art...It'd be a terrific gift for any creature-loving kids in your life."
- Tony Isabella, Comics Buyer's Guide
"It's a charming introduction to crytozoology for very young children, with the polysyllabic words they seem to enjoy, and gorgeously illustrated. And it has positive messages aplenty: man and manimal can live in harmony; you create your own fears; and working cooperatively is rewarding. If, as an adult, you have to read the same story every single night till your sanity gives way, this will be more pleasant than 99% of the competition."
- Fortean Times
"It's never too soon to introduce children to cryptozoology, and that's why new kids' book Monster Isle is the perfect teaching tool...[Miracola's] big, stylized monsters are the perfect combination of fanged and funny."
- io9.com
"Here is a book that is geared towards kids, but embraces the adventurer in all of us. If you are as huge a fan of the SciFi Channel's DESTINATION TRUTH as I am, you'll definitely want to check out this book of monsters creatively illustrated by Jeff Miracola...one that will most likely please those youngsters who are just forming an interest in comics. Perfect bed time story reading material."
- Ain't It Cool News