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Imaginary creatures and underdog heroic kids fill Mark's award-winning books and short stories. A former New York State Reading Association Teacher of the Year, he uses humor and crazy adventures to help children learn while they laugh. His first book, The Rockhound Science Mysteries, where children catch comical crooks by doing fun experiments, won Learning Magazine's Teacher's choice Award. His concern about bullying led him to write The Midnight Diet Club, 1st Prize winner in the Royal Palm Literary Awards (Florida Writers Association). As a child, he loved Sherlock Holmes and Perry Mason, a fictional lawyer, and always wanted to write a book that would inspire children to learn about the fascinating world of law and lawyers. In Welcome to Monstrovia, and its sequel, The Case of the Disastrous Dragon, a boy, confused by his parents' divorce, becomes the crime-solving assistant to his strange uncle, the famous Doofinch the Defender, the lawyer for giant-killers, dragons too old to fly, and other amazing creatures. A Silver Medal Award winner in the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards, and now a Bronze Award Winner in the Readers Favorite Awards, this fast-paced comical adventure has been called, "The best middle grade book I've read all year", and is loaded with laughs and surprises that keep even the most reluctant reader begging for more.
Mark thanks everyone who tries his books and especially those who offer their kind reviews. Coming soon, A Bite Before Christmas.
Reviewed by Lit Amri for Readers' Favorite
Welcome to Monstrovia (Tales of Monstrovia, Volume 1) by Mark H. Newhouse centers on young Brodie Adkins, who is sent to spend a vacation with an uncle he has never met. He thinks he is going to Key West, Florida, but he arrives in Monstrovia instead, where his uncle is a hero and a defense lawyer for the inhabitants of the fantasy land. He has big case he needs to work on and makes Brodie his legal assistant. Can young Brodie handle Monstrovia’s oddball citizens?
The cover art is eye-catching, and the concept and plot are solid. However, I’m ambivalent about the pacing. It’s a tad too fast for my liking. On the other hand, as this book is targeted at middle graders, my nephew (who read the book on his own) and my niece (who read it with me) had no complaints about the pace of the story – as an adult reader, I can’t argue with their views.
It is undeniable, however, that the story is highly imaginative and I couldn’t find a single dull moment. Welcome to Monstrovia is action packed and full of surprises. It also serves as an early means for kids to understand court proceedings, or perhaps influence them to consider being a lawyer as a profession in the future. All in all, in the words of my young relatives, Welcome to Monstrovia is ‘fast, funny and entertaining.’
