Welcome to the the first day of spring! Professor Dan Stockwell brings us the YA suggestion for this weekend - a thriller by CG Drews that investigates how we define "monster" - in life and in literature.
 Dan Stockwell | To remind our readers, Dr. Dan Stockwell is a former high school English language arts (ELA) teacher, is an assistant professor of English Education at California State University, Bakersfield. Dan serves as a member of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Secondary Section Steering Committee. In addition to his book, Teaching for CHANGE in the ELA Classroom, published by Routledge in 2025, Dan has published in NCTE’s English Journal and in the California Association of Teachers of English’s California English journal. Visit Dan’s website for lesson plans and teaching ideas. Our many thanks to professor Stockwell for another great YA recommendation! |
Don’t Let the Forest In by CG Drews
 | Don’t Let the Forest In by CG Drews is a haunting thriller novel that captures teenage angst and romantic obsession. The novel is set in a boarding school, Wickwood Academy, resting in the forests of Virginia. At Wickwood, Andrew Perrault, his twin sister Dove, and their friend Thomas are all starting their senior year. Despite their dreams for what their final year of high school and their friendship could be, things quickly turn to nightmare when monsters made of rotting flesh and fetid forest attack Wickwood. Andrew and Thomas room together, and throughout their relationship, they’ve been able to use their art—Andrew writes fantasy stories, and Thomas is a painter and illustrator who draws Andrew’s creatures—to share their feelings and communicate. Andrew also uses writing to escape from his own confusing feelings for Thomas. |
They soon learn that the monsters attacking the school are from Thomas’s drawings. Fearing no one would believe them—and that they might be blamed for the killings—Andrew and Thomas must face these monsters on their own.
| The novel ends ambiguously to raise questions, similar to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, about who is the real monster: the creatures or their creator? The novel’s strengths are its ability to build suspense, its haunting imagery, and the way it accurately captures the angst and obsession of youth. It is also unique in setting, tone, conflicts, and resolution. In addition to inviting readers to investigate how society defines monsters, this novel also addresses themes related to teen romance, friendship, and grief. |  CG Drews |
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