What do you think?
Rate this book
304 pages, Hardcover
First published March 5, 2019
The world is a dragon; my book a shield.Sophie believes a witch cursed her when she was a baby and she now spends much of her time with her head down, reading and rereading The Big Book of Monsters. She uses it to help identify and protect herself against the monsters surrounding her that are cleverly disguised as humans and searching for clues to figure out what kind of monster she is so she can find a cure. She’s also hiding her face from the world because she’s ashamed of her ‘monster mark’, a hemangioma (blood tumour) that appeared when she was only a few months old.
"What did you find?" Mom peeks over my shoulder. "Oh, the legend of the falls. I always liked that one."
"The paper says something about a princess?" Autumn points to the faded image. "I didn't even know there was a king here."
"No king," laughs Mom. "She was the Multnomah chieftain's daughter."
With a gasp, Autumn claps her hands. "A princess and a chief? How romantic!"
Her mom goes on to tell her that people were dying of a "great sickness." The "chief" called his council and "best warriors" together to find a cure (p. 127).
"Then, an old medicine man told them the only way to save the tribe was to sacrifice a young woman by throwing her off the mountain to appease the Great Spirit."
"safe in the land of the spirits. That's when water started flowing over the top of the cliff."
Someone walks up beside me and thin white gauze brushes my face. I brush it away and scoot over so the lady's dress doesn't blow into me again. Then I freeze as I take in her wispy white dress and long black hair. Her face looks different than it does in the picture, but the ghost of a Native American princess can probably look however she wants to look.
"Did you see her?" I whisper in her ear.
"See who?"
"The princess!" I point down the trail and gasp.
The path is empty.