--- product_id: 39339257 title: "My Favorite Thing Is Monsters" price: "€ 69.09" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.de/products/39339257-my-favorite-thing-is-monsters store_origin: DE region: Germany --- # My Favorite Thing Is Monsters **Price:** € 69.09 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** My Favorite Thing Is Monsters - **How much does it cost?** € 69.09 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.de](https://www.desertcart.de/products/39339257-my-favorite-thing-is-monsters) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description In this debut, which takes the form of a fictional graphic diary, a 10-year-old girl tries to solve a murder. 2025 Whiting Award WINNER in Fiction Kirkus Reviews Best 100 Books of the Century (So Far) Set against the tumultuous political backdrop of late ’60s Chicago, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is the fictional graphic diary of 10-year-old Karen Reyes, filled with B-movie horror and pulp monster magazines iconography. Karen Reyes tries to solve the murder of her enigmatic upstairs neighbor, Anka Silverberg, a holocaust survivor, while the interconnected stories of those around her unfold. When Karen’s investigation takes us back to Anka’s life in Nazi Germany, the reader discovers how the personal, the political, the past, and the present converge. Full-color illustrations throughout. Review: Astonishingly Great First Graphic Novel! - Just finished reading Emil Ferris's amazing graphic novel and I can say, as a grizzled comics fan with wide-ranging tastes, that I've honestly never seen anything quite like it. Spectacular illustrations cover almost every inch of this huge volume, all printed on lined three-hole paper emulating the illustrated diary of the ten-year-old protagonist, a tough and beleaguered tomboy on the rough streets of 1960's Chicago. Well-written and deeply immersive, this piece drew me into the world of Karen, a monster-obsessed kid struggling with sexuality, race, poverty, and the violence of her surroundings. It is as dark a work as I've read in comics yet has a jaunty sort of zest for life in it that constantly pulls the narrative along and saves the reader from being overwhelmed by some of the disturbing elements within. It's especially astonishing as the first work from a writer/artist, working in seclusion for over six years. It reminds me, in all the best ways, of the confessional work of Robert Crumb and Harvey Pekar, of the strange life-stories of Chris Ware and Daniel Clowes and Jeffrey Brown. It also reminds me of my own childhood, of how different a child can view the world, though my own early years were far less fearful. Ferris's illustrations also show an abiding love not just for horror movies (and particularly for our mutual Universal monster favorite, the Wolf Man) but for the great horror magazines of the 1960's from CREEPY and FAMOUS MONSTERS though the gory WEIRD and TERROR TALES varieties. Perhaps also some of the Spanish/Mexican horror mags, too, I'd guess. This is a great book. I can see it speaking to those that struggled with gender issues, but its scope is well beyond that, a love poem to lonely, different kids everywhere. I eagerly await the second part of the story, which will be published in early 2018. Go to desertcart and browse through a few pages, if you wish. It is not a story for children (and, honestly, I swore aloud when I hit the pages that will keep it out of most school libraries) but it speaks to the damaged child in each of us, I think. Review: My Favorite thing is, "My Favorite Thing is Monsters" - She grew up in gritty Chicago loving monsters. I grew up in gritty New York, also loving monsters. My brothers and I lived for the days when, "Frankenstein" or, "The Wolfman" were on TV, or, "The Crawling Eye," or, "The Attack of the Crab Monsters," or "Them!" I loved comics. They taught me how to read. They made me WANT to read. Stan Lee's overblown scripts would send me to the dictionary, something that nothing else succeeded in doing, not my mother's cajoling or the scourges of the nuns. I loved the artistry, and collected my favorites. They kindled in me a love of all art. I knew the names of my favorite artists and writers, and looked for them on splash pages. My brothers and I spent all our time drawing and writing stories. This was not an approved pastime. I lived in a beautiful, but decrepit prewar complex of apartment buildings, all connected by roof, alley and underground tunnels. Secret doors and maze-like paths were our playground. I ran with a constantly shifting pack of kids as we scoured the neighborhood for adventure. The garbage heaps were our raw materials. This was our enchanted castle. Our family had dark secrets, secret shame, divorce and madness. My father disappeared one day, and I didn't find out what happened to him for twenty-five years. Monsters were a vacation from a reality that I couldn't understand. I understand Emil Ferris' vision. Her childhood world was like mine. Her heroine, Karen, is smarter than I was, but I had kindly neighbors that I cared for and who cared for me as well. I wasn't as brave as Karen. I didn't probe my mother's secrets, I just wanted to escape them. Emil Ferris' work is astonishing. It is beautiful and terrible and true. Her pen work and esthetic evokes and imitates the great masters. Her visual storytelling is fluid, sumptuous and poetic. Her story is sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, but always compelling. I can't wait for volume two. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #59,331 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #3 in Fantagraphics Comics & Graphic Novels #19 in Contemporary Women Graphic Novels (Books) #36 in LGBTQ+ Graphic Novels (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.7 out of 5 stars 1,371 Reviews | ## Images ![My Favorite Thing Is Monsters - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81JJTisR6gL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Astonishingly Great First Graphic Novel! *by J***R on May 14, 2017* Just finished reading Emil Ferris's amazing graphic novel and I can say, as a grizzled comics fan with wide-ranging tastes, that I've honestly never seen anything quite like it. Spectacular illustrations cover almost every inch of this huge volume, all printed on lined three-hole paper emulating the illustrated diary of the ten-year-old protagonist, a tough and beleaguered tomboy on the rough streets of 1960's Chicago. Well-written and deeply immersive, this piece drew me into the world of Karen, a monster-obsessed kid struggling with sexuality, race, poverty, and the violence of her surroundings. It is as dark a work as I've read in comics yet has a jaunty sort of zest for life in it that constantly pulls the narrative along and saves the reader from being overwhelmed by some of the disturbing elements within. It's especially astonishing as the first work from a writer/artist, working in seclusion for over six years. It reminds me, in all the best ways, of the confessional work of Robert Crumb and Harvey Pekar, of the strange life-stories of Chris Ware and Daniel Clowes and Jeffrey Brown. It also reminds me of my own childhood, of how different a child can view the world, though my own early years were far less fearful. Ferris's illustrations also show an abiding love not just for horror movies (and particularly for our mutual Universal monster favorite, the Wolf Man) but for the great horror magazines of the 1960's from CREEPY and FAMOUS MONSTERS though the gory WEIRD and TERROR TALES varieties. Perhaps also some of the Spanish/Mexican horror mags, too, I'd guess. This is a great book. I can see it speaking to those that struggled with gender issues, but its scope is well beyond that, a love poem to lonely, different kids everywhere. I eagerly await the second part of the story, which will be published in early 2018. Go to Amazon and browse through a few pages, if you wish. It is not a story for children (and, honestly, I swore aloud when I hit the pages that will keep it out of most school libraries) but it speaks to the damaged child in each of us, I think. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ My Favorite thing is, "My Favorite Thing is Monsters" *by W***F on July 20, 2017* She grew up in gritty Chicago loving monsters. I grew up in gritty New York, also loving monsters. My brothers and I lived for the days when, "Frankenstein" or, "The Wolfman" were on TV, or, "The Crawling Eye," or, "The Attack of the Crab Monsters," or "Them!" I loved comics. They taught me how to read. They made me WANT to read. Stan Lee's overblown scripts would send me to the dictionary, something that nothing else succeeded in doing, not my mother's cajoling or the scourges of the nuns. I loved the artistry, and collected my favorites. They kindled in me a love of all art. I knew the names of my favorite artists and writers, and looked for them on splash pages. My brothers and I spent all our time drawing and writing stories. This was not an approved pastime. I lived in a beautiful, but decrepit prewar complex of apartment buildings, all connected by roof, alley and underground tunnels. Secret doors and maze-like paths were our playground. I ran with a constantly shifting pack of kids as we scoured the neighborhood for adventure. The garbage heaps were our raw materials. This was our enchanted castle. Our family had dark secrets, secret shame, divorce and madness. My father disappeared one day, and I didn't find out what happened to him for twenty-five years. Monsters were a vacation from a reality that I couldn't understand. I understand Emil Ferris' vision. Her childhood world was like mine. Her heroine, Karen, is smarter than I was, but I had kindly neighbors that I cared for and who cared for me as well. I wasn't as brave as Karen. I didn't probe my mother's secrets, I just wanted to escape them. Emil Ferris' work is astonishing. It is beautiful and terrible and true. Her pen work and esthetic evokes and imitates the great masters. Her visual storytelling is fluid, sumptuous and poetic. Her story is sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, but always compelling. I can't wait for volume two. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Magnificent Monsters *by A***G on May 4, 2017* As a monster-loving kid who grew up during the ‘60s and ‘70s, I identified with the scorned, mysterious phantoms of my favorite horror films. My fascination with these immortal creatures never died, lying buried from time to time and then resurging when the darkness within summoned that icily familiar grip. Reading Emil Ferris’ My Favorite Thing is Monsters, I feel again that freezing familiarity, the clench of a kindred spirit. The narrator in Ferris’ stunningly illustrated graphic novel, like myself as an adolescent, seeks escape from her feelings of loneliness and alienation by immersing herself in fantasies of thrillingly compelling supernatural beasts. Ferris, writing from the perspective of the narrator, Karen, creates an equally enticing world of fantasy by blending stories and imagery from Karen’s experience as an urban Chicago preteen in the 1960s with depictions of the horror magazines and paintings Karen adores. The book , formatted to resemble a lined notebook sketch pad, brilliantly perpetuates the illusion that the reader is stepping into the imaginary realm of a creative and extremely perceptive young girl. Detailed interpretations of monster magazine covers and famous art works such as Fuseli’s “ The Nightmare” are juxtaposed with gruesome depictions of Karen’s neighbors and playfully doodled sketches of Karen as a trench-coated child werewolf. As Karen explores her interest in art, Ferris’ illustrations reveal a variety of styles—from the neon-lit grotesqueries of Ernst Kirchner and the German Expressionists to the luridly seductive pulp art of popular comics and the grittily unflattering portraits of Robert Crumb. Unlike many graphic novels, Ferris’ work focuses on inner conflicts, the dangerous secrets festering inside neighbors, schoolmates, and family members that threaten to emerge in monstrous form when exposed. Secrets connect the lives of Karen and the people she knows. During her attempts to unravel the mystery of her murdered neighbor Anka, a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust, Karen discovers secrets within her family and within herself. A growing awareness of her own sexuality and the tragic revelation of her mother’s fatal illness lead her to find strength and solace in her imagination. The monsters she loves, draws, and writes about are her salvation. Ferris’s depiction of Karen’s monster fantasies and homoerotic stirrings while struggling with family tragedies, violence, and prejudice, though at times grim, is nevertheless inspiring, infused with wit, a sense of childhood resilience and untarnished insight. Like the enduring, undying creatures of the night that Karen idolizes, Ferris’ graphic novel (the first in a series) fascinates and enthralls, giving readers a tantalizing bite that leaves us craving more. ## Frequently Bought Together - My Favorite Thing Is Monsters - My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book Two: 2 - The Russian Detective: The exquisitely illustrated story of early crime fiction --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.de/products/39339257-my-favorite-thing-is-monsters](https://www.desertcart.de/products/39339257-my-favorite-thing-is-monsters) --- *Product available on Desertcart Germany* *Store origin: DE* *Last updated: 2026-06-28*