The Magnificent Monsters of Cedar Street (Magnificent Monsters of Cedar Street, 1) Paperback – October 26, 2021

my daughter loved this book!

The moment I saw this book on Edelweiss I had to download it. Still months until it is out in the world, but I had to read it as soon as possible. I am so glad I did so. Because this was just my kind of book. Full of magic and monsters. With great characters and such a good writing. I pretty much adored every part of this story.I'm giving it four stars, as it was almost perfect to me. I had some small issues but nothing big. Found this book to be fast and easy to read. The story was exciting and fun and a little sad too. It was a book filled with interesting monsters that I loved reading about. This book was also an epic adventure with amazing friendships.There was a monster guide included. Which I did like a whole lot. But will admit that having it before the book started was not good for me, haha. I was not able to focus as much as I needed while reading through it. Would have fit better at the end of the book, I think. Still. It was so interesting to read a little about the monsters included in this book. I will not write too much about this story, as it was not all that long, and because right now all I wish to say is how adorable this book and how much I enjoyed it. It tells the story of twelve year old Cordelia. She lives alone with her father and their monsters. She does not go to school. She do not have any friends. Except for all the monsters in her house. Yet she love living with the monsters and keeping them secret and safe.Because this is not a world that would accept knowing about the monsters and letting them live alone. It takes place in the past and the book focus a little on that. About how horrible some people were towards others. It was sad to read about yet so important too. I love that it was included. Cordelia does not have any friends. Not since her best friend suddenly stopped talking to hear a few years ago. But then a boy shows up at her door, looking for her father to help his dog. Except it isn't truly a dog at all, but a zuppy.One of the monsters that Cordelia knows all about. She helps the dog for the boy and they get to know each other a little. But the very same day her father goes missing while she sleeps. And all the monsters are gone too, except for two. Which were the most adorable. A tiny dragon and another creature that was so sweet. Cordelia and her father have lived with monsters in their huge house for years now. He helps them when they are sick and they decide to stay there. All kinds of different monsters. None of them evil.This book tells the story of Cordelia having to search for her missing father and all the missing monsters. She goes looking with her new friend, Gregory, and their three monsters. It's not an easy journey. Though it takes place in only a few days. But these two children go through so much in those days. They meet a whole bunch of horrible people. There is a circus. With the most horrible man. They are close to death so many times. And every moment was all kinds of exciting and interesting to read about. I enjoyed it a lot.There is so much to learn in this book. Getting to know Cordelia was the best thing. She was such an adorable girl and I loved her to pieces. I loved learning about her dead mom and how that happened. I loved reading about her and her dad and how they took care of the hurt monsters. I loved reading about their life. Wish there had been even more about it all, though. I also very much adored Gregory. He is an orphan living in the streets. And his story was all kinds of rude and heartbreaking. And I adored him tons.I very much enjoyed reading about all the different monsters in this book and all that they did. I so loved reading about Cordelia and her adventure to find her missing father. But I also wish this book had been longer. Felt like it ended too soon, haha. But it had everything it needed, despite that. I feel like my review is kind of a mess. But finding the right words for this book have been fully impossible. Simply because I enjoyed it so very much and I do not know how else to say that. I would not have minded a second book.The Magnificent Monsters of Cedar Street was every bit as magical as I had hoped it would be. It was filled with monsters and amazing characters. The writing was stunning and the story was exciting. I loved reading about Cordelia and her monsters. You all need to read this gorgeous book when it comes out in February next year. I cannot wait to own a print copy of this book too. Huge thank you to the publisher for the auto-approval on Edelweiss, so that I could read and review this one early. I'm so thrilled that I did so.---This review was first posted on my blog, Carina's Books. Read in August 2019.

The initial section of the book is a really long, and somewhat boring, list of various kinds of monsters though only a few really play any significant role in the story. Once you get to the actual story it is pretty interesting.

2.5/5 starsThe Magnificent Monsters of Cedar street is a Middle Grade fantasy book set at the end of the 19th century.I have really enjoyed many of the author's Young Adult books. Fantasy isn't my favorite genre. But I do like this author. So I was excited to get to read this new book.The narrator is 12 year old Cordelia (3rd person POV). The story starts out in Boston. Cordelia's father is a veterinarian who saves and heals monsters. But something happens that forces Cordelia to leave her home.The beginning started out a bit slow for me. Although there were parts of the story that I really liked. I thought that the monster part of the book was strong. I especially loved the zombie puppy.From just reading the story it is not very clear in what time period the story is taking place. It wasn't until partway through the book that Cordelia paid a very low price for something. And it made me wonder. At first I wasn't sure if this was a futuristic world. Eventually at the 2/3 point it is made clear that it is the end of the 19th century. But I feel like this should have been mentioned at the start of the book.The story felt like it was just going on and on in the middle. But the end of the book was definitely the strongest part. The last part of the book was extremely action packed. And the book was very exciting.Overall, the monster concept was very strong. Cordelia was an interesting young female character. But I was a bit disappointed with the actual explanation about what happened to her dad and the monsters.

In Boston there is an old manor filled with monsters. Cordelia Clay and her father, Cornelius, are caretakers to these monsters. One night, Cordelia finds her father and almost all the monsters missing. With the help of Gregory, a friendly street urchin, Cordelia and three remaining monsters go on the hunt for Cornelius. Their search leads them to a New York City circus and a college campus in Halifax, Canada. While at the college, a friendly professor suggests who might have taken Cornelius and the monsters.Oliver’s fantasy story is sadly sabotaged from the beginning. This sabotage is caused by the novel’s internal design, book cover, and illustrations. Readers start Oliver’s story with two random illustrated scenes showing Cordelia and Gregory but neither depiction is accurate. Next readers must endure twenty-four pages of a drily written “monster encyclopedia”. With no illustrations to help readers visualize these new monsters Oliver created, each entry is just nonsense names followed by random terminology. When readers finally reach the start of the story, Oliver goes full-steam using all her nonsensical monster titles with little description. Apparently, the publisher expects readers to constantly refer to Oliver’s “encyclopedia” throughout the story. But what middle-grade reader, the target audience, would honestly do this? Later, readers learn that Cordelia is a red-head with freckles and Gregory is short, darker-skinned, with black hair. On the book’s cover both of their images are wrong. All these problems distract from Oliver’s story, making it a very disjointed read.

I read this book to my 8 year old daughter. She liked the overall story quite a lot, but I had to edit out all the vague allegories and superfluous descriptions. The core of it is good, but needed to be tightened up considerably.