From left to right: Whip, Brody, Colt, Maya, and Talia.
Just when you thought middle school couldn’t get any rougher.
Junior high has ruined Colt Kingsley’s life. He has hardly any classes with his friends. Bullies have turned his name into a joke. And he is slowly losing one best friend to the football team and the other to the popular crowd. Just when he thinks things can’t get any worse, a kid down the street almost dies in a freak midnight accident—except it may not have been an accident at all. Rumor claims that it was an attack. Not by an intruder or an animal, but by the thing that lives under his bed. That’s what Colt’s little sister, Talia, believes. However, twelve-year-old Colt is way too old to believe in monsters. At least until he wakes up to one lurking in the shadows of his own bedroom.
Now Colt and his friends must band together to find a way to stop the monsters and save their neighborhood.
There is a scene in the movie The Babadook where the neighbor sees the little boy Sam and asks him "Have you been in the wars today?" He answers, "A few wars." While this is a British idiom meaning someone or something looks worn out, injured, or damaged, my mind instantly took it to someplace literal--a group of neighborhood kids who had been to war defending their town against monsters.
So let me introduce you to the kids of Sycamore Street.
Colt Kingsley is quiet and shy, the kind of kid you forget is in your class. The thought of breaking rules or getting in trouble makes him break out in a cold sweat. But when the monsters attack, Colt finds he might be tougher than he thought.
Talia Kingsley is the opposite of her older brother. There is no forgetting her in her bright outfits and outgoing personality. Talia is always true to herself and doesn't care what any of the other kids think of her.
Brody Strapping, Colt's best friend, looks like he'd be a bully, but he's really a buddy. In fact, he's so friendly, he's even friends with the bullies, including the ones that make his best friend's life miserable.
Maya Knight is fearless, whether it's on stage as a ballerina, standing up to her strict mother, or fighting monsters. Recently, she has gotten so caught up in being popular, she's lost sight of her true friends.
Richard "Whip" Whipple III takes nothing seriously and can't resist cracking jokes, no matter how grave the situation. While his constant wisecracks can get obnoxious, he always has his friends' back, whether it's Nerf gun war with the Ruffian twins or fighting monsters.
You can get a sneak peek at the first chapter of The Monster Wars: The Battle of Sycamore Street here.