Making Friends With Monsters

February 6, 2023
This heart-wrenching young adult fiction from Rostirolla (author of the Cecilia series) faces an important, sometimes difficult topic head-on, as told through the eyes of a 12-year-old boy. Sam knows the adults in his small farm town in Australia are struggling; the drought has gone on too long. But after the death by suicide of one of his dad’s friends, Sam’s mom begins to worry about his dad, and tells Sam and his siblings to make sure he’s never alone—especially with the gun. Sam is also worried that the same “monster” that is consuming the adults may be trying to take his older brother, Ben. Ben has been increasingly angry and mean, and Sam is determined to keep the Monster away. The only way he can do that is by researching and observing the Monster, and intrepid Sam begins to take notes of what he sees in each family member as they start to crumble.
This is not a happy story, but it is vital and gripping. With insight and sensitivity, Making Friends with Monsters takes on upsetting adult topics, offering an unflinching look at how destructive and overpowering depression and many dark emotions can be, especially when people on the outside have no idea the depth and the destruction already done. Sam shares his observations but also his own experiences with the Monster, especially after a farming accident.
Through both the external and internal views of the Monster that Sam observes, readers discover just how sneaky the Monster can be, how hard it is to get rid of, and even, eventually, how safe Sam feels having it, because that meant he didn’t have to feel the fear and sadness he knew was there. The Monster turned it into anger for him instead. Rostirolla does memorable work dramatizing such incisive ideas, even finding some cause for hope, in the end, as characters bond over secrets and scars, the marks of survivors.
Takeaway: An urgent, unflinching YA novel about the “monsters” of depression and family dysfunction.
Great for fans of: Jasmine Warga’s My Heart and Other Black Holes, Adib Khorram’s Darius the Great Is Not Okay.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Starred review from March 1, 2023
A tween comes to grips with the darkness in himself and others. In this harsh but heartfelt middle-grade novel, it seems as if nothing can go right for 12-year-old Sam Nolen and his family. Their rural Australian sheep farm is suffering after six years of drought; money is tight; and Sam's older brother Ben's moodiness has progressed to outright anger. Later, there is news of a neighbor's suicide; Sam loses his arm helping out on another farm; his father hijacks a water truck; and Ben dies under confusing circumstances. As Sam struggles to make sense of the problems in his family and community, adjust to the loss of a limb, and understand his own emotions, he decides that people have a "Monster" within them, shaping their behavior for good and ill. He sets out to understand the rules concerning these Monsters, including "Most people don't know they exist." Despite its Grapes of Wrath-esque grimness--the story includes a variety of tragedies, intentional and unintentional deaths, and maimings; and if things can get worse for Sam's family, they nearly always will--the book is utterly engaging and rewarding. It is suitably funny at times, with Sam's perfect blend of earnestness and cynicism bringing the narrative voice to life. There is an element of mystery, as Sam uncovers what happened to Ben, that fits seamlessly into the coming-of-age plot. The ending is redemptive, and Sam draws conclusions about human behavior from his study of Monsters, but it never feels forced, moralizing, or inauthentic. A strong cast of secondary characters--especially Cliff, a biker gang leader who becomes Sam's mentor in amputee life--adds to the book's layers. Readers who are unfamiliar with Australian life will have little trouble making sense of the story's regionalisms, and a wealth of details, like the hierarchy of uses and reuses for the limited supply of water, makes the setting feel both desperate and real. Rostirolla balances evoking readers' sympathies with avoiding maudlin emotions, successfully turning a novel about stark and painful topics into an enjoyable read. A rich, compelling tale that deftly explores bleak themes for young readers.

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