Book Review: The Monster Catchers

Alpha Omega Family Adventures received a review copy from Smith Publicity Promotions and voluntarily provided an honest review. This does not affect the opinion of the book or the content of the review. All opinions are our own.

We have found that reading a chapter book as a family is something we truly look forward to, even in our over busy schedule. It is so nice to sit down and enjoy a really good book with the boys! The big boys and I were very excited to receive this book for review just at the end of the school year. It was a longer book than we have read together, but we enjoyed the time spent in this book over the beginning of summer! I will be writing this review, but adding in some input from Aiden and Anson (our two biggest boys).

I will admit, The Monster Catchers was a slow starter for me. I’m not sure if I am just out of the habit of reading higher level novels, especially reading them aloud, or if it was just harder to focus since we were reading it during the day with the two younger boys sitting with us or what, but one we got into it we had a hard time putting it down. l would say it took maybe a quarter of the book to get really into it to the point where we couldn’t wait to see what happened.

The story is written by George Brewington. It is about a boy, Bailey Buckleby, and his father, Dougie Buckleby, who own a souvenir shop as a cover for their more behind the scenes job of chasing and catching monsters. The story is completely fiction, but references true events as a real part of the story. For example, San Francisco wasn’t destroyed by a huge earthquake, but rather it was a pair of sea monsters who caused the earthquake destroying the city when their baby sea monster was taken from them.

This story involves a wide variety of fictional characters such as trolls, goblins, fairies, and sea monsters! You realize throughout the story, that even characters who are maybe ones you would question can end up being the best of friends. This is a great book that includes lessons for middle school aged kids who may not feel as if they fit in, that it is okay to be different and that sometimes whatever it is that makes you different is exactly what the world needs at just that moment. Each person has special talents, abilities, and interests and to be accepting and acknowledge the differences makes a better team.

The climax of the book is an unlikely team fighting against an evil character to make things right with the sea monsters. Bailey and his new found friends return a close friend to his family and learn how to live life in a new way after a few key events during the storm change the course of Bailey’s life…for now.

This book leaves you wondering when the second book will be available to read so you can find out how one part of the story ends! It is also a feel good story that doesn’t treat the evil characters in an evil way. The evil characters just go their own way once Bailey and his new found friends win. There aren’t any violent, bloody, death type scenes in this book, which I can appreciate since I wouldn’t prefer my boys to be reading stories like that at their age.

The Monster Catchers book was just released in March of 2019. We can’t wait for the sequel – The Revenge of the Whiffles – to be released July 2020!