I was initially disappointed because the front cover didn't appeal to me the same way as The Library Lion did, but inside was another lovely Knudsen story about friendship, belonging, patience, determination and difference.
With a touch of Philip Pullman and his 'daemons' we follow young Marilyn as she waits patiently for her special monster to find her.
We see the other kids at school being found in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways by their monsters. Marilyn goes from waiting patiently, to being philosophical. She then becomes anxious & cross, & eventually she moves to pro-actively searching for her monster herself, despite her brother's derision.
I like how Marilyn never gave up. She tries lots of different strategies and remains hopeful throughout.
"She thought there were a lot of different ways that things could work."
Until she discovers that friends "sometimes find you & sometimes you find them and sometimes you find each other."
By the end of the book I also felt more kindly towards Phelan's soft water colour illustrations.
I have The Library Lion sitting in my TBR. I've seen it on several lists now and found a copy in Sydney recently. It's ridiculous to say you haven't had time to read a picture book in several months, but I haven't.
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