"All stories teach, whether the storyteller intends them to or not" (Pullman 2). In this case, A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness is a wonderful story I fell in love with. As its won several awards for the truly beautiful and unique story itself, I believe it's one of the best stories ever written for a child. For my future children, A Monster Calls will definitely be a story I will read to them. It explores both grief and loss of a parent figure; however, it contains "intriguing and magical elements" filled with different characteristics that I think any child would love (A Monster Calls 1). It's a nightmare related story, but it's beautiful at the same time, as the author teaches a sad, yet inspiring lesson. .
In Philip Pullman's Carnegie Medal Acceptance Speech, he says "But what characterizes the best of children's authors is that they're not embarrassed to tell stories. They know how important stories are, and they know, too, that if you start telling a story you've got to carry on till you get to the end," (Pullman 1) and that's exactly what Patrick Ness does in A Monster Calls: Carried it until the very end where he lets his mother go. He goes on to say "But children know what they need, and they go for it with the intensity of passion, and what they need is stories." We all need a good story in our life, especially children. He even states that we can't get enough of stories, that "there's a hunger for stories in all of us," and that we "need stories so much that were even willing to read bad books to get them, if the good books won't supply them" (Pullman 1). However, Neil Gaiman says in his speech "there is no such thing as a bad book for children" (Gaiman 3). I consider that very true, as he also says "The simplest way to make sure that we raise literate children is to teach them to read and to show them that reading is a pleasurable activity" (Gaiman 3).
