Little Monsters

Roche, Máire. Little Monsters

August 18, 2026 by Aladdin

ARC provided by the publisher

Meg March lives with her three sisters in Salem, Massachusetts, where they are cared for by foster mother, Marmee. They have had a lot of placements, all in Salem, but they have never worked out particularly well. It doesn't help that Meg o manifests sharp teeth and long claws when stressed, Jo becomes covered in fur, Amy is part mermaid and struggles with issues when she gets near seawater, and young Beth has bat wings. As Halloween approaches, Meg wants to fulfill her sister's wishes for costumes, even though this means caring for chickens for Mr. Laurence next door. His grandson, Laurie, lives with him, and is Jo's best friend, and a young John Brooke, whose parents can't care for him, lives there as well. Brooks (as he is known) sees Meg with her sharp teeth when they run into each other in the woods by their houses, but doesn't doesn't bother her about it. Meg is fortunate to have a very caring friend in Sally, who is always supportive, but is frequently bullied by the well-to-do Annie and her brother Ned Moffat. There is an animal on the loose in Salem who is eating chickens and destroying property, and Meg starts to worry that she is the one doing these things when she wakes up covered in dirt, with no memory of being outside. With security cameras all around town, she's concerned that there are videos of her transforming into a monster. She even breaks into Annie's house to try to retrieve footage, and finds that Annie might not be treated very well. Occasionally, Meg does things she isn't supposed to do, like staying out late, but Marmee never gets upset; she tries to support Meg, even helping her save favorite breakfast foods that her sisters usually take. Meg doesn't understand why Marmee is so supportive, and still feels that it is her job to provide for her sisters and take care of them. Brooks is also always on Meg's side, and helps her out frequently. Meg does go to the public library to research monsters in Salem after hearing that there are more monsters around than one would suspect, but still feels it is important to hide her true self. When the monster attacks result in Ned being hospitalized, the townspeople gather pitchforks and torches to go after the monster. Meg finds out surprising information about Marmee, and doesn't know quite whom to trust. Is hiding her true self and never asking help the best way for her to live her life as a monster? 

Strengths: Meg doesn't get much coverage in the original book, so it is interesting to see life from her perspective, especially since we also see her future husband, John Brooke. This uses the original characters well, tweaking essential information about them just slightly. For example, we see Ms. Hummel show up as a school teacher. Having the girls in foster care makes Meg's role as the oldest sister more important, and watching her try so hard to mother her sisters is heart warming. The fact that Meg doesn't want to ask for help is a big facet of this book, right up there with the fact that she is trying to hide her true self. Both of these themes are on trend both in middle grade literature and also in social emotional learning practices. This isn't really a scary book, since we only hear about the antics of the "monster" after the fact, so this is more of a book about personal identity and relationships, which makes it truer to the original. 
Weaknesses: I'm afraid that populating this story with Little Women characters will lose more middle grade readers than it will gain. While I'm not sure exactly where the original story was set, I always imagined it was Concord rather than Salem, but that could just be my own assumptions. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who like allegorical fantasy books like Lucas' The Vanished Ones , Haydu's The Ordinary and Extraordinary Auden Greene, Leavitt's The Garden Just Beyond. or Savaryn's The Edge of In Between. I just don't have the readers for this type of fantasy book at my library.