Mary’s Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelly Created FRANKINSTEIN By Lita Judge

 

Mary’s Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelly Created FRANKENSTEIN 

 By Lita Judge

Mary's Monster Book Art

Reviewed by J. Martinez, K. Martinez, K. Moore, C. Morentin, and J. Nelson

Review:

 

Book Cover

Lita Judge’s Mary’s Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein combines the use of poetry and hundreds of illustrations as a way to tell the story of Mary Shelley and how she created the never-forgotten tale of Frankenstein. When reading Frankenstein for the first time, or any novel really, the readers usually don’t wonder anything about the author. However, this book proves that doing a bit of research about a masterpiece’s author might actually be more interesting than one would think. This biography is a must-read for those who loved Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as it is the perfect way to get an insight of how the novel came to be. 

Many of the themes that can be interpreted from Frankenstein can be seen in Mary’s Monster as it provides a much deeper understanding of the overall messages that Shelley was trying to send. Lita Judge, in her biography, reveals the obstacles that Mary faced in her life and how their impact has motivated her into creating the horrifying story of Frankenstein, a novel that has not been forgotten in the past 200 years. Finally, readers are able to see how the life of Mary Shelley was when she was a young girl, while she was writing Frankenstein, and after its publication. 

This biography is fairly easy to read and is actually quite interesting. Lita Judge provides a perfect balance between providing an accurate historical context while also showing how many of the events that have occurred emotionally affected Mary Shelley. Mary Shelley’s life was quite tragic from the beginning but it ended up working in her favor. While this book does have a bit of the horror genre within, the poetry and the illustrations that the author uses really enlighten the overall experience. Lita Judge’s use of emotional poetry really makes the reader feel the main character’s pain and the struggles that they are facing. This, in a way, makes the reader feel many sad and complex emotions, but also understand what Mary was going through. Along with the use of poetry, Lita Judge also uses black and white watercolor illustrations that are quite dark and frightening. While the illustrations in the novel add to the overall storytelling, it’s not something you necessarily want to see if you read late in the night. The illustrations are as haunting as Mary Shelley’s life. This, however, is not a bad thing, it just means that it’s truly fulfilling its purpose. Mary Shelley did not live a quiet and peaceful life. In Mary’s Monster, Lita Judge wanted readers to feel for Mary and she accomplished just that with her heartbreaking words and disturbing illustrations. 

Lita Judge’s Mary’s Monster is an extraordinary book that beautifully combines gothic and romantic fiction, two genres that were very common during Mary Shelley’s time. This 300 page poetic biography is quite unique and dark, making it a read that is impossible to put down. Mary’s Monster is the perfect great young adult fiction book to read. 

 

Biography:

 

Lita Judge

Lita Judge is an American writer, painter, illustrator, and environmentalist. She has published multiple children’s illustrated books as well as her famous young adult biography Mary’s Monster. Growing up in rural Alaska, Judge’s childhood was spent traveling to various remote islands where her fascination with nature and the environment was first conceived. There she was immersed in the natural environment, thriving in wildlife’s habitat. In the summertime Judge’s experience with the rural lifestyle continued in Wisconsin with the comfort of her biologist grandparents. This constant immersion into nature lay the groundwork for her execution of her work in Mary’s Monster. Heavily interested in the naturalistic elements of the world, Judge’s conception and fascination with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein bond both female authors. Like Shelley, Judge’s environment heavily influenced her work as an author. The Alaskan alps that fortify Judge’s childhood similarly mirror the alps in which Victor chases his creature in Shelley’s novel. This connection to her environment significantly unites Judge to Shelley’s creative world. Judge’s immersion into wildlife at a young age heavily influenced her writing and illustrating style. In addition to her writing, Judge also maintains her Etsy shop where she sells her illustrations and signed books. On her website when describing her online shop she states, “A little part of me has always dreamed of living in the English countryside above a little shop where I could paint, and share creativity with whimsical pieces of art for sale. There’d be tea and cake, and shop kitties to greet everyone who entered!” Like her writing, Judge’s illustrations also unite the environment and natural world through a visual medium. 

Some of her awards include: NYPL’s Best Books of 2021, NYPL Top 10 Books for Kids, School Library Journal Best Nonfiction 2021 | SLJ Best Books List, 2019 NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, 2018 NERDIES: POETRY AND NOVELS IN VERSE, 2018 Cybils Literary Award, Poetry Finalist, Nominated for both the 2019 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals (the UK’s oldest and most prestigious children’s book awards), 2019-2020 Nomination for Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers, and the 2019 TAYSHAS Finalist: A high school reading list for the State of Texas.

Instructional Resources: 

1. https://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=58180

Includes book description from CCBC and the publisher. Along with about the author, interviews, book guides/activities, trailers, awards.

2.The Strange and Twisted Life of “Frankenstein” | The New Yorker

The author Jill Lepore talks about the history of Shelley’s novel. It is a long article that details the critical controversies within the text.

3. Mary’s Monster Timeline | Lita Judge

Judge explains the creative process of writing her graphic novel. Beginning with the first time she read Shelley’s novel.

4. Illustrator Saturday – Lita Judge | Writing and Illustrating (wordpress.com)

An interview where Lita Judge talks about the creative process of her many other books. The interview includes fun facts and words on becoming a successful writer.

5. https://litajudge.me/posts/

This site is Lita Judge’s personal blog posts. It is a way to access announcements and get to know the author’s other works in children’s literature, as well as hobbies.

6. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20479571

Pedagogy and the Romantic Imagination by David Halpin (focuses on Coleridge and Wordsworth). This is useful for those interested in the Romantic era.

7. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3420

Text of Vindication of the Rights of Woman, a famous text by Mary’s mother. Mary’s mother was an author and philosopher. Mary experienced this text despite her father’s disagreements with its claims.

8. Geneva - Google Maps

Location and view of Geneva where she resided when writing the novel, Frankenstein. It was in Switzerland during the 1800s.

9. https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/themes/the-gothic

Discovering literature of the Gothic. Incurring information regarding motifs, Frankenstein, Gothic origins, Victorian supernatural, and more articles.

Instructional Activity:

Preview:

This activity is meant to encourage engagement and analysis of the visual and textual elements of literature. In the group activity students will discuss these elements in the text with their peers and identify how they engage with the audience. In the individual activity students will incorporate what they identify in the book with their own poems and corresponding illustrations. At the end of both activities, students will be encouraged to reflect on their experiences.

Resources and Preparation:

 In preparation for this activity,  students should have read all or most of Mary's Monster. Students should also have an understanding of poetic forms, devices, and visual elements to apply to the poems in the text. There is a handout provided below with this information as well as a place for students to apply this information to a poem in the book.

Basic Poetic Forms and Devices

Group Activity: 

1.  Break the class into small discussion groups
2. Each group will pick a poem from the novel and label what form or devices it is using. Groups will also identify the meaning behind any visual elements. Some questions to prompt students in this discussion include:
1. How does the poem inform the visual?
2. How do the visuals add to the poem?
3. What questions arise from the presentation of the two? 
3. Each group will conclude on their interpretation with a short paragraph identifying evidence for their claims.
   

Individual Activity:

1. Assign the class a free writing activity describing a memorable moment in their life. Give about 10-20 minutes. Students should aim for approximately one page. Encourage the use of meaningful quotes and descriptions. Students should also be able to determine if the moment had a proper closure.
   
2. On another day, assign the students to transform their narratives into a poem or series of poems. Minimum of one page of free verse or following the guidelines of a poetic form such as a sonnet or haiku. Give the students a few days to a week to reflect on what they wrote and develop it further. Encourage descriptive language to help the next step.
3. Once student's have completed their poem(s), ask them to create a visual to compliment or inform their poem(s). This is meant to reflect similarities to the interaction between the poems and visuals in Mary's Monster. Students should also create a short write up explaining how the text and the visuals connect or contrast with their poem(s).
4. Optional: Student's can be encouraged to present their projects to the class personally or anonymously. The idea is that forcing student presentations could distress students because of the potentially very personal nature of the assignment. Outside of students directly presenting an alternative would be to share the pieces anonymously or to take only volunteers.
5. At the end of the project, ask students what they learned from this activity and to reflect on the process. This can be done either as a discussion or through a reflective paragraph.
   

Common Core Standards: 

Standard Identifier: W.11-12.10 

Grade Range: 11–12

Content Area: English Language Arts

Category: English Language Arts (6–12)

Standard: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Standard Identifier: W.11-12.3

Grade Range: 11–12

Content Area: English Language Arts

Category: English Language Arts (6–12)

Standard: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences. a. Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation and its significance, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of experiences or events. b. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters. c. Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole and build toward a particular tone and outcome (e.g., a sense of mystery, suspense, growth, or resolution). d. Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters. e. Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative.

Standard Identifier: Acc.VA:Re8

Grade Range: Accomplished

Content Area: Arts

Category: Visual Arts

Enduring Understanding: People gain insights into meanings of artworks by engaging in the process of art criticism.

Essential Question(s): What is the value of engaging in the process of art criticism? How can the viewer "read" a work of art as text? How does knowing and using visual arts vocabularies help us understand and interpret works of art?

Process Component(s): Interpret

Performance Standard(s):

Identify types of contextual information useful in the process of constructing interpretations of an artwork or collection of works.

Standard Identifier: ELD.PI.11–12.11a.Em

Grade Range: 11–12

Content Area: English Language Development

Category: Part I: Interacting in Meaningful Ways

Standard:

Justify opinions by articulating some textual evidence or background knowledge with visual support.

Bibliography:

Goodwin, Tim. “Monadnock Profiles: Lita Judge Turned a Passion for Nature into Children's Book Career.” Transcript, Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, 31 Mar. 2021, https://www.ledgertranscript.com/Monadnock-Profiles-Peterborough-author-has-found-the-perfect-place-to-call-home-39578549.

“Images of Lita Judge and Her Book Cover.” Lita Judge, https://litajudge.me/meet-lita/. Accessed 18 May 2022.

Judge, Lita. Mary's Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein. Roaring Brook Press, 2018.

“Lita Judge.” Simon & Schuster, https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Lita-Judge/76738740.

“Mary's Monster Book Art.” Johnson City Public Library, Johnson City Public Library, 21 Oct. 2018, https://www.jcpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/MaryShelley_byLitaJudge-blog.jpg. Accessed 18 May 2022.

“Poetry 101: Learn about Poetry, Different Types of Poems, and Poetic Devices with Examples - 2022.” Master Class, Master Class, 5 Aug. 2021, https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.masterclass.com%2Farticles%2Fpoetry-101-learn-about-poetry-different-types-of-poems-and-poetic-devices-with-examples%23what-is-poetry&data=05%7C01%7CJnelson69%40csu.fullerton.edu%7C3f9d95fdfb024abb8e8608da34357a9d%7C82c0b871335f4b5c9ed0a4a23565a79b%7C0%7C0%7C637879701538603279%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=C7NweNfPcOT12DxRgZ7pNLL%2BKkp7chmfIb07cYrDSKY%3D&reserved=0.