Vivien Alcock (1924–2003)

Everyone is so tired of Poppy Brown's stories that Poppy has begun talking to garden statues. When her favorite statue, Belladonna, is struck by lightning and comes to life, Poppy must find a human who will listen! Poppy's classmate Emma is skeptical, but curious enough to help Poppy investigate the living statues, which are disappearing from gardens all over town and assembling somewhere on the moors. What seemed fascinating at first soon becomes terrifying as the two girls are captured by show more the creatures they had observed - creatures who are at once beautiful, spiteful, and as unfeeling as the stone they're made of. show less

The mysterious Albert Ross, whom twelve-year-old Felicity saves from drowning on the dangerous seacoast where she lives, appears to be either an exotic world traveler or a fearsome liar, and he ultimately changes the lives of those who seek the truth about him.Felicity, a young girl yearning for adventure, rescues a lost young man, Mr. Ross, from the sea and, despite the suspicions of her friends and neighbors, finds her life forever altered

Frankie Stein is the daughter of a research scientist. She accidentally creates a baby monster with unwanted cells from her father's laboratory, which first scares her and then starts endearing itself to her (and the rest of us.) She enlists a girl who's good with babies/animals to help her take care of it and keep it secret, so that no evil scientists can take it away. But the monster keeps growing...

My favorite thing about this book is the way Monnie, the monster, is treated by the author. show more I love him/her/it to death, but I'm never told "here, you're supposed to love this." My second favorite part is the relationship between Frankie and Monnie and how it grows, how well I come to understand them over the course of the story.

A lot of basic kid themes are present, including sibling rivalry and the special dynamic friendship has at that age. (And the friendship subplot is one of the most believable things in the book. You'll know what I mean when you read it, it's not what you're usually fed in these books.) I really like Frankie, and how practical she is with herself even while she's having a completely emotional and impractical reaction to something. She's the kind of person I'd like to be my friend, and when I'm reading The Monster Garden it's like she is. Also, I love Alf.

This is Vivien Alcock's absolute best book, and is suitable for all ages.

http://fatalisfortuna.blogspot.com/2009/02/review-monster-garden-by-vivien-alcoc... show less

"'Whom do I look like? I mean, whom do you take me for? . . . Who is Sylvia?'" "He was silent for so long she thought he wasn't going to answer. An odd expression came into his face. He turned away as if to hide it, then, looking back over his shoulder, said, 'My sister. But she's dead.'" Emily hadn't meant to get tangled up with the likes of Oliver Mallerton and his dead sister. She had only been tailing her artist father to find out why he had been acting so mysterious lately. She show more certainly never meant to get mixed up in the Sylvia Game, a game that sounded harmless, not like a game that would nearly cause the death of one boy and lead to the banishment of another. show less