‘The Big Book of Monsters’ was published in 2019 by Hal Johnson.In this book, there are 25 evil creatures from classic literature. You can also find some supernatural beasts from ancient fairy tales like ‘Grendel’ and ‘Humbaba’.The book intends to give the young readers a safe and thrilling shiver. It also helps them deal with their real fear and anxiety by taking them to a magical world that doesn’t catch the attention of busy grown-ups. ‘Frankenstein’ from Shelley, ‘Grendel’ from Beowulf, ‘Fafnir’ from the Norse mythology, ‘Cheops’ from Jane Webb, ‘The Invisible Man’ from H. G. Wells, ‘Humbaba’ from Gilgamesh, and ‘Mr. Hyde’ from Robert Louis Stevenson are some of the featured monsters that the readers will see and read about in the pages of ‘The Big Book of Monsters’.Cool Things From ‘The Big Book Of Monsters’The chapters on Frankenstein and Grendel in ‘The Big Book of Monsters’ are delightful, and the book itself is an exciting introduction to the study of language and literature.One of the greatest creations of Gothic literature was Frankenstein’s monster. The character comes from a novel by ‘Mary Shelley’ of the same name. Victor Frankenstein, while studying at the University of Ingolstadt, attempts to create a human. His experiments go wrong and engender a gigantic monster. This monster faces fear and rejection from its owner and decides to punish him by killing the members of his family.Hal Johnson took the character of Grendel from ‘Beowulf’, one of the most horrifying tales of classic literature. Grendel was a cursed monster and the descendant of Biblical Cain. For 12 years he attacked King Hrothgar’s hall, Heorot, and killed innocent people. After losing a great number of men, the King sends for Beowulf, a brave warrior, for help. Beowulf accepts the King’s request and spends a night in the hall of Heorot. As usual, Grendel came and attacked the hall. He fought Beowulf with much grandeur but was defeated and killed at last.Funny Things From The Big Book Of MonstersIn this book, Hal Johnson gives entertaining insights into the origin and the story of every character.The story of Fafnir was taken from ‘Saga of the Volsungs’. In Nordic mythology, Fafnir, son of Hreithmar, is known for turning into a dragon due to his extreme greed. Once Loki killed one of Hreithmar’s sons and for that Odin compensated him with a vast amount of cursed gold. To obtain this wealth Fafnir slew his father and became a dragon to guard the treasure. Later, a young warrior named Sigurd slew Fafnir on Odin’s advice.Mr. Hyde is another great character and an important part of classic literature. It comes from ‘Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’, written by the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson. Dr. Jekyll is a reputed man but he has a hidden evil personality. For most of his life, he has been trying to repress this evil self, until one day he invents a potion to deal away with it altogether. But after using it he transforms into a younger, smaller, and evil Hyde. Day by day, Hyde becomes more powerful and dominates the other self, which is Dr. Jekyll. A point comes when Hyde almost takes over, and Jekyll becomes completely dependent on the potion to remain conscious.Motivational Things From The Big Book Of MonstersAll the characters/monsters featured in this book are the constituents of a syllabus for an engaging literature course that will delight young readers.Hal Johnson took ‘The Invisible Man’ from H. G. Wells’s novel by the same name. The book is an important part of classic literature. The Invisible Man is actually a scientist named Griffin who somehow manages to invent a potion that can make anyone invisible. With the help of this potion, Griffin engages in nefarious activities including murder. At last, he dies and becomes visible once again.Another piece of classic literature that is used in ‘The Big Book of Monsters’ is Humbaba, a monster from the ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’. Humbaba is often seen as a hideous monster, but the truth was that he was assigned by Enlil, the king of the gods, to protect Cedar Forest where the gods dwell. Also, when Gilgamesh defeated Humbaba, the latter begged for his life, a very unlikely thing for a monster to do.Inspirational Things From The Big Book Of MonstersIn this book, Hal Johnson offers the young readers some horrifying yet inspirational characters taken from all sources of literature, including fairy tales, classical epics, mythology, and modern novels.One of the most inspirational chapters in this book deals with the story of Cheops. The character was first introduced by Jane Webb in her 1827 novel, ‘The Mummy’! Here we see a 4,700-year-old mummy being discovered by a group of British Scientists in the year 2126. After the discovery, the mummy of Cheops comes back to life and roams the street the London with a remorseful heart for committing patricide when he was young. During his stay in England, many horrible incidents took place, including the assassination of the Queen of England. At last, to ease his guilty conscience, Cheops saves the United Kingdom and returns to the Great Pyramid.Another inspirational, cool, scary, and fun character in ‘The Big Book of Monsters’ is Count Dracula. The character is taken from Bram Stoker’s celebrated work by the same name. In the novel, Dracula is the Transylvanian Count who has been alive for hundreds of years by drinking the blood of the living. Jonathan Harker, a young lawyer, visits him to finalize a land deal and gets imprisoned in the castle after he showed Dracula a photograph of his fiancee, Mina, who looks just like Dracula’s late wife. After this, Dracula goes to London in search of Mina. Share these facts with your friends and enjoy!
‘The Big Book of Monsters’ was published in 2019 by Hal Johnson.
