I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Sophie was an engaging child protagonist.Due to circumstances, and her active imagination, she believes in monsters--and more importantly that she is one. With her new friend she sets out a quest of self discovery and magic. She wants a cure to change what she doesn't like about herself, and to retain her mother's affection. After all, her mother won't love her if she is a monster.

Sophie strongly desires to be loved, and is devoted to her mother. During the story, she will learn there is more to a person's (or monster's) story than you can tell by a glance,and that people deserve second chances.

This is a fun story about family, friendship, and accepting yourself.

This was a cute middle grade novel. I enjoyed the overall message of accepting who we are and not bullying others. I would absolutely buy this for my nieces and nephews to read because I think it is a novel they would enjoy. My favorite parts were the bits from the Monster Book such as "A word to the wise, if you are reading this, you have a soul of infinite worth. Do not trade it away for anything."

Thank you NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for a free eARC.

I just adore Sophie. Such a versatile character that deals with big emotions in a unique way. Being different isn't easy for young kids but Sophie navigates her world in a way unlike many others to figure out what makes one human

Sophie thinks she's a monster. She thinks a lot of people around her are monsters too, and she carries her Big Book of Monsters around almost everywhere she goes so that she can identify them and protect herself and her mom from them. The big birthmark - a hermangioma - that covers one side of her face makes kids and even adults stare and even make fun of her, and as a result she has severe social anxiety. Her world of monsters helps everything make sense. Until things start to change, and the bullying gets worse, and her monsters might just make her lose the only friend she's ever had.

This was a fantastic book! Sophie is 11 years old, and the writing will appeal to kids that age and even a little older. The idea of Sophie so fully believing in the idea of people being monsters, will be a little more hard to go along with, but the book has a cast of loving, supportive adults that - while not hogging the page time - make it clear that Sophie's way of dealing with the issues caused by her birthmark is not the healthiest way.

Autumn, a sweetheart of a girl at Sophie's new school, is such a vivacious, loving friend to Sophie that she unwittingly opens an entire new world to her shy friend. Autumn's grandmother, a gardener and herbalist, is another new friend that slowly draws Sophie out of her shell with gentleness and acceptance.

I really liked that Sophie's mom was such a positive character. Even though she was far from perfect, she loved Sophie with all her heart and really, truly wanted the absolute best for her. In so many MG and YA books the parents are negative influences and I was happy to see a strong mother/daughter relationship.

4/5 stars. Strongly recommend for any kid and any library! Also worth noting: the author herself had a hermangioma as a child, and some of the incidents in the book came from her experiences.

Review will be posted on GoodReads now, and at the link below on February 5, 2019.

A surprisingly interesting middle grade fantasy.
Our protagonist has blood tumor on her head and thinks she is a monster and that's her monster mark. She finds a witch and tries to take off her curse.
Though the book had a good start , it became so philosophical at a point.
That's where the book jumoef from being a middle grade to adult.

Do you believe that monsters are real? Do you ever believe that you are a monster? Sophie is starting a new school and it's very hard to do that, especially when you have a blood tumor that covers half of your face. Sophie calls it her "monster mark". Sophie believes that when she was a baby she was cursed by a witch and turned into a monster. How in the world could her mother or anyone else love a monster? She carries around The Big Book of Monsters everywhere she goes and she can just look at someone and tell if they are good or bad. Sophie actually makes a new friend, Autumn, at school who is a fairy and her grandmother is s good witch. Sophie is convinced that if she can gather some magic objects then she can use magic to make the monster in her go away. But what happens when this "magic" world and the real world collides? Will Sophie's mom not want her when she finds out what she really is? Will her friendship with Autumn be crushed into pieces? Will Sophie get her magical objects and turn herself into a normal human again? Read this incredible book to find out what happens to Sophie, her family, and her friends.

I absolutely loved this book! So many of us have some type of something wrong with us that we are ashamed of. For me, it psoriasis. I have lived with this and been ashamed of this my whole life. This books brings to light that what we look like on the outside does not define us on our inside. Kindness, compassion, love, friendship, and family are just a few of the things that matter, not our outward appearance. Please do not miss this book!! It is incredible!!

I really thought that I'll appreciate this book, which reminded me somewhat of a recent wonderful read, "Memoirs of an imaginary friend", by Matthew Dicks.
But alas I'm sorry to say that in the end this book didn't work for me, and that I gave it up at the half.
I liked the beginning, Sophie's voice was sweet, I liked her weirdness, how she saw the world around her. But the story was much to diluted and became boring... It would have made a much better short story or even better a lovely illustrated book (the book cover is beautiful!)
A part of my annoyance and loss of interest was because of the author choice to insert excerpts of the "Big Book of Monsters" before each (short) chapter. Not uninteresting in itself, but to frequent and tiresome in the long run. The narrative was also rather repetitive: Sophie meets a new person, this person appears human or not to her, and if not Sophie ponders which sort of monster the person is. A short adventure follows. The first times were rather sweet, but at long it was too much for me.
A shame because the themes are importants and the story had potential,
Of course this is just my opinion, others readers have loved this book, so if the presentation appeals to you, you should probably consider reading it nevertheless!

Sophie is a young girl with an incredible imagination. Developing a birthmark on her face, she learned to use her imagination to create a world that in her eyes helped explain and protect her from the cruelness of others and also I hope to find a way to in her eyes be like other children. Learning to accept the differences.
Like in many single-parent families also deals with children learning to " share " their parent. Their need to feel like the protector of them.
Many funny relatable situations when dealing with peers in middle school. Clicks, bullies, and even finding the best friend and only friend she has ever had.
A wonderful story that made you want to just reach out and hug Sophie.

This book is, at its heart, a sweet story about learning to accept yourself and all your strangenesses. Sophie has a facial birthmark that makes her think she might be a monster, and she's become very attached to her 'Big Book of Monsters', which allows her to categorise people she meets into different kinds of monsters. But she just can't work out what kind she might be...

It's a lovely premise, but I found that the metaphor stretched a little too thin in places. I loved the beginning, when it seemed as though there might be some genuine magic going on behind the scenes, but over the course of the novel, it becomes increasingly apparent that Sophie is making things up to comfort herself. However, the monster metaphor persisted throughout, which I did find a little annoying. I was also disappointed to see the magic fall away from Sophie's life as she accepted her birthmark, almost as if growing up has to mean the loss of imagination..

However, I really enjoyed the character of Autumn's grandmother, who is a herbalist and possibly a witch. It was nice to see Sophie find a friend in Autumn, but even nicer to see an adult who immediately treated this sad little girl as something special.

A Monster Like Me is a cute read, but a little heavy handed on its themes, particularly towards the end. It disappointed adult me, who was looking for more magic, and I think it would have disappointed me as a child for the same reasons. But if you go into this knowing it's not fantasy, then it should be very enjoyable.

Sophie is a girl with a birthmark on her face which makes her think she was cursed and turned into a monster. In fact, she always carries her favorite book with her, a monster book, because she kepts cheking it out in order to know what kind of monster is around at any given time.
Because of all the bullying she gets for her birthmark she lives kind of a secluded life, not enjoying activities like other kids her age do, and she has just moved with her mother to a new place and school. There, she befriends Autumn, a girl who she believes is a faerie, and to whom she opens up and tell everything about being a monster and everyone else being some kind of something more than human.
The book was good, it kept me captivated and loved the evolution of the characters, but I was a bit thrown off when Sophie kept onto her monster story even when the book was near the end and she seemed to understand about what makes a person human or not. I thought she had grasped the concept by then, and that took me a bit back.
But all in all, the book is a nice read about differences, and what makes a person human.

I was so excited to get this advanced copy of A Monster Like Me, and even more happy to find out the story takes place in Portland, Oregon a 100 miles from my hometown in Eugene! I have lived here my whole life and still learned something new about Multnomah Falls! ❤️

Sophie is an imaginative, little girl who has found away to cope with her big birthmark. She has created a world with monsters everywhere she goes. It’s much easier to accept your “monster qualities” when you imagine that monsters are everywhere around you.

Sophie has a difficult time being anywhere in public and her mom is at a loss with how to help her. Sophie is able to make a new best friend at school, and her Mom meets someone special too, that’s when things get a little complicated.

Sophie might need to come up with a better strategy for handling her insecurities over her birthmark. Will she change her thoughts on monsters and how she sees herself? Or will she accept her birthmark the way it is? 🤔hmmm…..

My heart went out to Sophie, and anyone that’s faced with being different in a big way. While reading it, I was reminded of the story of Wonder, as they both dealt with similar issues of bullying, family bonds and friendships.

I truly enjoyed this advanced copy I received from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. This book will be published March 5th, 2019, I hope you will check it out!

This book had a good message and I appreciated that it came from the the author's own experiences. It did, however, feel pretty bleak at times and there was a lot going on that I think made the story busier than it needed to be.

Sophie is obsessed with monsters. She sees them everywhere. A birthmark on her face has left her hiding in her own shell, afraid to leave; afraid to stay. With the help of hew new best friend, Autumn, she sets about finding a cure for monster in side of her that is trying to come out of her birthmark. Along the way, she learns more about herself than she ever imagined. Will she accept her "inner monster", or her Mom's boyfriend, or will she make a sacrifice to save Autumn's little brother?

Swore's book is filled with snippets of information about each of Sophie's monsters, insights into accepting change, believing in oneself, and the power of friendship.

A definite read for anyone who has felt looked at, different, or out of sync with the world around them.

A Monster like Me by author WendyS. Swore is a great children’s book. With monsters and fairies, who all deal with bullying and friendships. I would recommend this book to anyone with kids who love monsters!
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an arc copy of A Monster like Me in exchange for an honest review.