Book picks similar to
Monster Maker by Nicholas Fisk


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Thor Games / Dogs and Suds


Barbra Annino - 2018
    The first, Dogs and Suds, combines the two worlds of Amethyst and Everafter as Thor—Stacy Justice’s Great Dane familiar—meets Beast—guardian of the five princesses of Enchantment—for the first time. The two magical Great Danes pair up again in THOR GAMES, where Thor is forced to face an old foe—and an old fear—when a leggy blonde asks for his help. Spun from the popular Stacy Justice Witch Mystery series and the enchanting Everafter series, this new take on familiars will captivate readers who enjoy magical fiction and four-legged heroes.

Arcadia's Choice (Arcadia Trilogy #3)


Jesi Lea Ryan - 2014
    Arcadia is sick of being used and abused for her psychic gifts. It was bad enough to be exploited by a madman, but when the users are closer to home, she must decide how far she is willing to go for others, and when she needs to watch out for herself.

Cirque Du Freak, Vol. 1


Darren Shan - 2003
    Now Darren's been immersed into a shadowy world inhabited by vampires, werewolves and strange creatures the likes of which he's never imagined, and his life will be changed forever!

Boone Shepard


Gabriel Bergmoser - 2016
    You might have heard the rumours—whispers of an evil plot involving time travel, dangerous experiments, a secret fortress, a terrible book, famous authors and, regrettably, murder. You might also have heard of heroes who were caught up in this plot, fighting to do the right thing. That sounds a lot more impressive than it actually was. My name is Boone Shepard. I’m here to set the record straight.”Boone is taking a break from writing for The Chronicle newspaper to hunt down and destroy every last copy of a very rare, very dangerous book. But then his editor calls to demand he investigate a missing persons case deep in the Scottish Highlands—in the company of his rival, photographer Promethia Peters—and he is forced to abandon his personal goals and get back to work. Restless and begrudging, Boone is unprepared when this hunt leads him back to the one story that won’t stop chasing him—his own. Boone Shepard is the first in a series of young adult novels following the adventures of an Australian expat, errant journalist and accidental hero.

The Last Kids on Earth: The Monster Box (Books 1-3)


Max Brallier - 2018
    Hang out with Jack Sullivan and his friends as they navigate life after the Monster Apocalypse--living in a tricked-out tree house, avoiding zombies, battling evil world-destroying monsters, and generally treating life like it's the best video game ever! This boxed set includes the first three books from the New York Times bestselling The Last Kids on Earth series: The Last Kids on Earth, The Last Kids on Earth and the Zombie Parade, and The Last Kids on Earth and the Nightmare King. Full of black-and-white illustrations, cool inventions, and every sort of monster, The Last Kids on Earth Collection is the perfect gift for the kid who doesn't want the action (or the laughs) to stop!

City of Masks


Mary Hoffman - 2002
    He wakes up in Bellezza (Venice) during carnival time and meets Arianna, a girl his own age who is disguised as a boy in the hope of being selected as one of the Duchessa's mandoliers. Arianna gives Lucien her boy's clothing and he is selected as a mandolier himself, becoming a friend of fellow-stravagante Rodolfo, the Duchessa's lover, and saving the Duchessa's life when she is threatened by an assassin hired by the powerful di Chimici family. For state occasions the Duchessa uses her maid Giuliana as a body-double but Guiliana commits the fatal mistake of revealing the secret to her fiance Enrico and a sequence of devastating consequences unravels. Meanwhile Lucien has met the original stravagante, the Elizabethan alchemist William Dethridge, and he begins to understand that he may be called to follow in his footsteps.

The World of Mortal Engines (Mortal Engines #1-4)


Philip Reeve
    Mortal Engines Quartet: 4 books - Mortal Engines / Predators Gold / Infernal Devices / A Darkling Plain

Search for Senna


Katherine Applegate - 1999
    But does. And there are creatures that shouldn’t exist. But do. Welcome to a land where all of your dreams and nightmares are very real—and often deadly. Welcome to Everworld.David’s life was pretty normal. School. Friends. Girlfriend. Actually, Senna was probably the oddest aspect of his life. She was beautiful. Smart. But there was something very different about her. Something strange.And on the day it began, everything happened so quickly. One moment, Senna was with him. The next, she was swallowed up by the earth, her screams echoing from far, far away. David couldn’t just let her go. Neither could the others. His friends—and hers. So, they followed. And found themselves in a world they could have never imagined. Now they have to find Senna and get home without losing their lives. Or their minds. Or both…

Middlegame


Seanan McGuire - 2019
    Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story.Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math.Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realise it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet.Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan: to raise the twins to the highest power, to ascend with them and claim their authority as his own.Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Disney After Dark


Ridley Pearson - 2004
    Finn Whitman and four other teens have been hired as Disney World guides, but with an odd twist: With cutting-edge technology, they have been transformed into hologram projections capable of leading guests around the park. What begins as an exciting theme park job turns into a virtual nightmare as Finn and his pals attempt to thwart an uprising by a menacing group of Disney villains.

The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales


Chris Van AllsburgSherman Alexie - 2011
    Thousands of children have been inspired to weave their own stories to go with his intriguingly titled pictures. And now, some of our most imaginative storytellers attempt to solve the perplexing mysteries of Harris Burdick. Enter The Chronicles of Harris Burdick to read this incredible compendium of stories: magical, funny, creepy, poignant, inscrutable, these are tales you won't soon forget.(front flap)

Shepherd's Wolf


M. Andrew Reid - 2013
    Many play for power and fame; others play to escape the pain and loneliness of real life. One boy, paralyzed at birth, knows no other world. For Ben Shepherd, Verdia is home. The Shepherd is Verdia’s most famous and mysterious blacksmith, constructing armor and weapons for elite and wealthy players while hiding from public view. Players ponder the Shepherd’s true identity, and Ben creates his masterpieces in isolation. Ben discovers friendship in the form of an enormous white wolf - a creature unique in all of Verdia. As news of the boy and his wolf spreads, Ben becomes the target of greed, envy, and fear; Ben’s tranquil life is shattered. A band of strangers, united by compassion, will battle a perilous landscape and unrelenting enemies to deliver the Shepherd and his wolf to a new home. To succeed, they must enlist the help of an enemy - a player who is as powerful as he is hated. They will discover that a small group of friends can face impossible odds, and that a hero can hide beneath a villain’s mask.

Elsewhere


Gabrielle Zevin - 2005
    It is warm, with a breeze, and the beaches are marvelous. It's quiet and peaceful. You can't get sick or any older. Curious to see new paintings by Picasso? Swing by one of Elsewhere's museums. Need to talk to someone about your problems? Stop by Marilyn Monroe's psychiatric practice.Elsewhere is where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different. Here Liz will age backward from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth. But Liz wants to turn sixteen, not fourteen again. She wants to get her driver's license. She wants to graduate from high school and go to college. And now that she's dead, Liz is being forced to live a life she doesn't want with a grandmother she has only just met. And it is not going well. How can Liz let go of the only life she has ever known and embrace a new one? Is it possible that a life lived in reverse is no different from a life lived forward?This moving, often funny book about grief, death, and loss will stay with the reader long after the last page is turned.

The Monstrumologist


Rick Yancey - 2009
    This is the trust I never betrayed. But he is dead now and has been for more than forty years, the one who gave me his trust, the one for whom I kept these secrets. The one who saved me . . . and the one who cursed me.So starts the diary of Will Henry, orphaned assistant to Dr. Pellinore Warthorpe, a man with a most unusual specialty: monstrumology, the study of monsters. In his time with the doctor, Will has met many a mysterious late-night visitor, and seen things he never imagined were real. But when a grave robber comes calling in the middle of the night with a gruesome find, he brings with him their most deadly case yet.A gothic tour de force that explores the darkest heart of man and monster and asks the question: When does man become the very thing he hunts?

The Rithmatist


Brandon Sanderson - 2013
    Rithmatists have the power to infuse life into two-dimensional figures known as Chalklings. Rithmatists are humanity’s only defense against the Wild Chalklings. Having nearly overrun the territory of Nebrask, the Wild Chalklings now threaten all of the American Isles.As the son of a lowly chalkmaker at Armedius Academy, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students learn the magical art that he would do anything to practice. Then students start disappearing—kidnapped from their rooms at night, leaving trails of blood. Assigned to help the professor who is investigating the crimes, Joel and his friend Melody find themselves on the trail of an unexpected discovery—one that will change Rithmatics—and their world—forever.