THEODORA HENDRIX AND THE MONSTROUS LEAGUE OF MONSTERS

A plucky young hero unravels a monster-filled mystery.

As an infant, Theodora was found swaddled in a graveyard in England by a kindly zombie and his vampire-cat companion. She was adopted by a good-natured group of monsters, who broke a strict tenet of their sacred charter by bringing a human into the mix. Now, 10 years later, Theodora attends Appleton Primary School. On the first day of Year Five, she meets and befriends Dexter Adebola, a new Nigerian American student. When odd occurrences begin to compound—sinister notes, trails of slimy earwax, and ominous corvids—Theodora knows she must uncover the nefarious source before her place within her beloved monster family is jeopardized. Kopy’s breezy offering is more fun than frightening, with conversational chapters that mostly culminate in page-turning cliffhangers but ultimately lead to a lackluster and hastily rendered conclusion. This work, which was originally published in the U.K. in 2020, contains some questionable representation. Brave and precocious Theodora is white; conversely, bespectacled, stuttering Dexter, who’s Black, serves as little more than an anxious sidekick. The depictions of women are also unfortunate: As the fight between good and evil culminates, the good monster is shown as thin, feminine, and conventionally attractive, whereas the bad one is fat and disabled and has hairy legs.

A found-family tale that falls flat due to tired stereotypes.