No Place for Monsters

Gr 4-6–After several nights of dreams about a Really Tall Man, Cindy vanishes from her home and her family’s memory. All of her things are gone, and her family doesn’t remember her when they wake up. The story cuts to new kid Levi, whose parents recently divorced. Levi meets Kat, a mischievous classmate who becomes his partner on a project. Kat talks Levi into using an abandoned vehicle as their office on the edge of town. One evening when Levi comes home too late, he is chased by the dark shadow of a Really Tall Man. Levi’s younger sister, Twila, falls victim to the same fate as Cindy. No one but Levi remembers Twila. As Levi and Kat work together to try to catch the monster, they camp out on a hill beside a farm and instead discover a chupacabra who may be able to help them find out who’s taking children. By putting some clues together, Levi and Kat make their way to the local ice cream factory where they uncover an operation to cast sleeping spells on children and bring them underground. Levi’s quick thinking and Kat’s bravery rescue the children trapped in a dreamland underneath the factory. The copious illustrations and unusual page formats offer a varied reading experience, but at times the pacing is slow.