★★★★ ½
This week in a few words: Thrilling. Memorable. Dangerous. Hilarious.
Marvin the Monster has figured out how to deal with distractions at school and difficult social situations…but he’s never had to deal with Summer Camp.
Marvin goes to a local camp with a lot of friends from his school and meets some new ones along the way. Everything is going great at first...
But no one said anything about a LAKE MONSTER.
After a few scares in the beginning, Marvin settles in. He even meets some new friends!
Joey seemed like an interesting chap, even though he says and does some pretty bizarro things.
But Marvin’s friends don’t feel the same.
He yucks our yum.
With his old and new friends warring – will summer camp ever be fun again?
One thing that I absolutely LOVE about this series is watching Marvin develop over these books. He started as a slightly too-precocious monster of a child and has matured into a fabulous kid.
I’m really happy with the way this book turned out this round!
If you would’ve told me a year ago that I would be THIS invested in the character development of a little Monster in a middle-grade book, I don’t think I would’ve believed you.
The plot this round really emphasized how employing what he learned about ST4 (Stop Take Time To Think) and helping his friends (like Joey, the clueless monster) figure out how to handle situations where they feel overwhelmed.
As always, there’s a section of this book directed towards kids and helping them apply what happened in these books navigate and overcome similar moments.
And there’s a bit directed towards parents about how to bridge the gap between the book’s story and professional advice on how to handle these situations.
I am always impressed by this book series – it is truly one of my fave middle grade books and I cannot wait to see where the authors take it next!
As always, thank you so much to the authors and Kate from Familius Publishing for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review!
Interested in this one from Raun Melmed, Caroline Bliss Larsen, & Arief Kriembonga? Buy it here: Amazon
Miranda Reads 