Desmond Pucket and the Mountain Full of Monsters

Desmond Pucket and his friends love to play practical jokes involving special effects, especially monsters. They love to scare people. The time has come for the sixth grade trip to Crab Shell Pier where the Mountain Full of Monsters ride is something Desmond has been looking forward to for years. He wants to take Tina Shimsky, the prettiest girl in the class on the ride. That does not work out, but what does happen is that Desmond finds out that the ride is closing at the end of the summer and the ride with the monsters is going to get blown up. Desmond's goal over the summer is to earn enough money to buy the monsters. He and his friends start a business to scare people for money. It works well but they are short of the $500.00 they need. They plan one last huge scare to make the rest of the money. . Mr. Needles makes another appearance in this story where Desmond not only has to outsmart him but his mortal enemy Scott Seltzer as well. Lots of new gags. Again the illustrations are black and white cartoons which the kids will love, with notes and facts to add to the story.. A fun book that kids will love.. There are more recipes and directions to the reader for some of Desmond's tricks at the end of the book.. The children will love that. This is the second book in the series and I am sure that both books will be enjoyed by the kids as much as the adults who may read them with them.

Written by Ben, Age 9:

Desmond Pucket and the Mountain Full of Monsters is a preview copy from NetGalley.

Since Desmond Pucket was finally allowed to go on the field trip, he decides he is going to ask his crush to go on the Mountain Full of Monsters Ride with him. But his plans are ruined when the school discipline officer has to come with Desmond for the whole day. Desmond tricks the officer and still goes on the Mountain Full of Monsters ride, but just before the ride leaves, the officer goes with him and they go on multiple times. Later, Desmond finds out that the ride will be closing and everything inside it will be blown up. How can Desmond save the monsters inside?

I really like this book because the first book in the series was awesome and having a follow-up to that was cool. I also like that Desmond likes to play monster jokes on people. I really hope there is a third book in this series because I would want to read it.

Check out my review of Desmond Pucket Makes Monster Magic too.

Because Tatulli is primarily a comic strip artist (he's the creator of the largely wordless surreal strip "Lio") he has an excellent sense of visual timing. Thus, Tatulli uses the illustrations in these books to full effect. While Desmond is a prankster with a fondness for the macabre, his pranks come from a sense of fun and pleasant fear rather than anything truly malicious (excepting those he plays on his older sister), making him a likable, if somewhat odd, character. I liked the emphasis on planning and design before Desmond pulls any stunt, encouraging the same process thinking from readers .The plots are a little silly but in an entertaining way. Desmond Puckett is a solid choice fore young, fun-loving mischief makers.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Installment number two was just as great as the first Desmond Pucket book. This time around Desmond finally gets to live his dream of riding the Mountain Full of Monsters ride with none other than Tina Schimsky. Needles ruins it for him and then Desmond finds out the ride is closing for good. He and his friends create a money making scheme to buy his beloved monsters and as always chaos ensues for Desmond. Needles almost ruins it for him and then drops a huge bombshell. Desmond and friends manage to save the day and our hero realizes maybe Tina isn't the love of his life...

As before the illustrations were great. The storyline was perfectly suited to the target age group. The author has included Desmond's notes for creating some of his monster magic. I think this is a relatively wholesome series for middle grade readers and up. I'm looking forward to any future installments.

5 stars.

What can I say? This book is absolutely genius. The book is being re-released and I still stand my my first thoughts when I read this book. Mark Tatulli is the guy who does the Lio cartoon strips for the newspaper [if you don’t know which one that is, it’s the one with the adorable little boy that has a pet squid, or is it cephalopod], anyway, his illustrations, or cartoons since it is a kids book and illustrations sounds too grown up are incredible.

The story follows Desmond Pucket as he tries to save the “Mountain Full of Monsters” ride at his local amusement park, while at the same time getting the attention of the girl he’s sweet on [he’s a 6thgrader so its ok].

With the help of his friends Desmond sets out to make enough money to give the monsters a new home; because hey, what kind of monster lover lets them get blown up? Using his love for monsters, he sets up a “Scare for Fun” business [smart kid, hard worker], because remember, you never scare to be mean, that’s not cool, he makes $500 do give as many monsters as possible a new home.

If I wasn’t so into monsters, shadow-ducking would be my second career choice.

I would recommend this book for basically anyone, but technically it is a kid’s book. The story is written simply and combined with the illustrations [sorry, cartoons] it makes it very engaging for young readers. So let’s round up the little monsters [I mean kids] and get them reading.

Rating 5 out of 5 Read@Book