From the Publisher
A love letter to fandom, friendship, and the stories that shape us, Eliza and Her Monsters is absolutely magical.” — Marieke Nijkamp, New York Times bestselling author of This Is Where It Ends
★ “Creator of an astonishingly successful webcomic...Eliza finds her voice. A wrenching depiction of depression and anxiety, respectful to fandom, online-only friendship, and the benefits and dangers of internet fame.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
★ “In her sophomore novel, Zappia gracefully examines Eliza’s complicated struggle with anxiety, depression...peppered with detailed illustrations from Eliza’s webcomic, drawn by Zappia herself. A fervent celebration of online fandom.” — Booklist (starred review)
★ “Told in a series of letters, instant messages, comics, and prose, this book focuses on relationships and identity. ...will resonate with teens who write, create art, and love fandom. ...A must-have for all YA collections, especially where geek culture is celebrated.” — School Library Journal (starred review)
“We’ve seen variants on this premise before, but Zappia uses it to focus on introversion and isolations, panic disorders, suicidal ideation, and a preferable online existence that offers more control...Readers involved in fandoms and those who wish to understand and think about their reach are the audience for this.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“Zappia punctuates prose sections with Monstrous Sea artwork and online chats...she pointedly delves into the way fandoms can smother the creators they live. ...a compelling read on the labyrinths of imagination and the simple pleasures of ordinary life.” — Shelf Awareness
Marieke Nijkamp
A love letter to fandom, friendship, and the stories that shape us, Eliza and Her Monsters is absolutely magical.
Shelf Awareness
Zappia punctuates prose sections with Monstrous Sea artwork and online chats...she pointedly delves into the way fandoms can smother the creators they live. ...a compelling read on the labyrinths of imagination and the simple pleasures of ordinary life.
Booklist (starred review)
★ “In her sophomore novel, Zappia gracefully examines Eliza’s complicated struggle with anxiety, depression...peppered with detailed illustrations from Eliza’s webcomic, drawn by Zappia herself. A fervent celebration of online fandom.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
We’ve seen variants on this premise before, but Zappia uses it to focus on introversion and isolations, panic disorders, suicidal ideation, and a preferable online existence that offers more control...Readers involved in fandoms and those who wish to understand and think about their reach are the audience for this.
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
We’ve seen variants on this premise before, but Zappia uses it to focus on introversion and isolations, panic disorders, suicidal ideation, and a preferable online existence that offers more control...Readers involved in fandoms and those who wish to understand and think about their reach are the audience for this.
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2017-03-06
Creator of an astonishingly successful webcomic—or a nonentity of a high school senior?Eliza Mirk is an anxiety-plagued weirdo, shuffling silently through the corridors of her Indiana high school without a single friend. She's also beloved LadyConstellation, creator of the comic Monstrous Sea, "a combination of the Final Fantasy video games and the Faust Legend." On the Monstrous Sea forums, she's the queen to millions of passionate fans; in school she's "Creepy Don't-Touch-Her-You'll-Get-Rabies Eliza." Eliza's parents, athletes with no understanding of the internet age, mishandle their beloved—but frighteningly baffling—daughter. Though terrified by human interaction, Eliza finds her voice long enough to defend a new student who's being mocked for writing Monstrous Sea fanfiction. Wallace and Eliza develop an intense, if unusual, friendship: Wallace's selective mutism means the majority of their conversations are carried on in writing. Eliza, meanwhile, wonders if she can reveal her online identity to Wallace, one of the most well-known fans of Monstrous Sea, without destroying his feelings for her. The deepening relationship of these two white teens, interspersed with pages from the comic and Wallace's fanfiction prose retelling of it, exposes the raw, self-absorbed pain of mental illness amid the helplessness many high schoolers experience. A wrenching depiction of depression and anxiety, respectful to fandom, online-only friendships, and the benefits and dangers of internet fame. (Fiction. 13-17)