Postcards From a City of Monsters (Improbable Press)
by Sherri Cook Woosley
We rarely review children’s books, but this is a wonderful fantasy that serves a purpose. Toby’s mom and step-mom move halfway around the world with him, to the Czech Republic. He’s being treated for cancer in a hospital far from his friends and home and this makes the frightening cancer even more difficult. He feels trapped until one night something strange and wonderful taps on his window.
It’s a stone gargoyle come to life, and it offers to take Toby on a magical tour of Prague. The biggest part of the magic is what his new friend and the other stone gargoyles do: they visit children to help them. It does not cure the cancer but–well, read this book and see what changes for him.
I might also add that the watercolor illustrations are absolutely marvelous. Postcards From a City of Monsters is written for ages 6-12 years old without writing down to them, and I recommend it.
