The Wanting Monster

by Martine Murray, Anna Luisa Read (Illustrator)

Overview

From award-winning author Martine Murray (dubbed Australia’s Kate DiCamillo) and artist Anna Luisa Read comes a timeless and timely tale about the monstrousness of envy, and every creature’s—even a monster’s—need for love.

It starts with a whisper in your ear. A prickly feeling that something isn’t quite right. And it builds until a sneaky, possessive thought wriggles into your mind, and an insidious want burrows into your heart.

Before you know it, you’re discontent, convinced that you’re owed more than what you’ve got. This is the work of the Wanting Monster.

One day, the Wanting Monster arrives in a small village, but no one notices him, despite his antics. Feeling snubbed, he starts sowing discontent and envy of one’s neighbor. So infectious is the wanting and greed awakened by the Wanting Monster that even the stars are plucked, one by one, from the sky.

Covetousness and distrust reign. Will the village people ever return to their senses? Will they ever learn that it’s the monster of wanting that’s been poisoning their minds? The Wanting Monster almost triumphs . . . fortunately, he is finally seen for what he is, and this recognition unleashes the purifying force of collective lamentation and a coming together to reroot and rebuild.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781592704194
Publisher:	Enchanted Lion
Publication date:	05/27/2025
Pages:	76
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 11.80(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Martine Murray is an acclaimed Australian author and illustrator whose work has been translated into more than 20 different languages. Her first novel, The Slightly True Story of Cedar B Hartley, was selected for the White Ravens list of outstanding international children’s books and was one of the New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing and a Book Sense 76 Children’s Pick. Anna Luisa Read is an Australian artist whose work spans painting, ceramics, music, theater, and garden design. Always deeply committed to and informed by her connection to the natural world, Anna was a co-founder of Studio Su in Castlemaine, a ceramic gallery space. She is also the co-founder of Parachute Press, a small independent publisher. Anna resides in Campbells Creek, a little town on the edge of Castlemaine in central Victoria.

Editorial Reviews

“A picture book written by Martine Murray and beautifully illustrated by Anna Read, The Wanting Monster tells the story of a town... where the titular character sets off a mad race among the townspeople to hoard every natural resource for themselves... The Wanting Monster looks like Maurice Sendak’s Max if he had stayed in the land of the Wild Things and grown into one himself. And as with Max, the key to taming him is showing him a bit of love... From the first page, a palette of pale greens and blues is threatened by dark clouds hovering over the horizon. As the Wanting Monster pours its greed into the ears of the villagers, the darkness pours over the hills and envelops the village, the pages becoming gorgeous studies in blacks and whites and deep blues.”— Newbery honoree Adam Gidwitz The New York Times

"Very poetic and deep... The ideas afoot in this book are great."— Betsy Bird A Fuse #8 Production (A School Library Journal blog)

"This fable teases out the difference between wants and needs and illustrates how excessive desire can lead to heartache. Read’s folkloric art has an ominous quality to it, with skies filled with gray, purple, and black swirls evoking the current climate disaster... An atmospheric musing on the perils of avarice."— Kirkus Reviews

"An almost unbearably wonderful modern fable about who we would be and what this world would be like if we finally arrived, exhausted and relieved, at the still point of enough. Having always felt that great children’s books are works of philosophy in disguise, speaking great truth in the language of tenderness, I hold this one among my all-time favorites."— Maria Popova The Marginalian

“Dreamlike illustrations track this fable about the dangers of envy... Even the stars in the sky fall prey to the Wanting Monster—until a compassionate child reminds the villagers of their responsibility to one another and the world.”— Foreword Reviews

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! “I want to live inside this illustration and hold the Wanting Monster in my own hand. To cuddle and be cuddled! To love and be loved!”— Bex, Bookseller Books Are Magic (Brooklyn, NY)

From the Publisher

2024-12-14
A monster spreads greed wherever it goes.

The Wanting Monster lurks outside a village in the hopes that someone will notice it. The white-furred creature blows a puff of white smoke that attracts the attention of brown-skinned Mr. Banks, who’s sleeping near a stream. Suddenly, Mr. Banks decides to dam up the waterway for his own private pool. Others see this new development and divert parts of the stream for their own purposes, causing it to dry up. After successfully sowing chaos, the Wanting Monster continues its path of destruction, whispering in the ears of other villagers, leading them to hoard all the flowers and even the stars in the sky. The results are barren fields and a land pitched into darkness. Feeling empowered, the Wanting Monster grows more powerful until a villager sings a lullaby, showing the creature the love it’s never experienced. Overcome with emotion, the monster weeps. So do the villagers; they cry enough tears to refill the stream. They then come to their senses and fix their mistakes. This fable teases out the difference between wants and needs and illustrates how excessive desire can lead to heartache. Read’s folkloric art has an ominous quality to it, with skies filled with gray, purple, and black swirls evoking the current climate disaster. The villagers vary in skin tone.

An atmospheric musing on the perils of avarice.(Picture book. 5-9)

Kirkus Reviews