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Dear Mr. Coville,
We just finished reading "The Monster's Ring". We loved it! It was funny and adventurous and cool. But we want to know more, so here are some of the questions we came up with. Did Eddie and Russell become friends? Did Russell change into a monster every full moon? How did he hide it from his mom and dad? What happened to the ring, did it fall off or did he absorb it? Was the full moon monster the same monster that Russell had turned into? Does Russell wake up naked every time he turns into a monster? We know that the magic shop makes 5 more stops, will there be anymore? We are about to start our individual novel study of Jeremy Thatcher, We can't wait to find out what happens next in the magic shop!
Mrs. H. and the Grade 3's
We just finished reading "The Monster's Ring". We loved it! It was funny and adventurous and cool. But we want to know more, so here are some of the questions we came up with. Did Eddie and Russell become friends? Did Russell change into a monster every full moon? How did he hide it from his mom and dad? What happened to the ring, did it fall off or did he absorb it? Was the full moon monster the same monster that Russell had turned into? Does Russell wake up naked every time he turns into a monster? We know that the magic shop makes 5 more stops, will there be anymore? We are about to start our individual novel study of Jeremy Thatcher, We can't wait to find out what happens next in the magic shop!
Mrs. H. and the Grade 3's
Reply by Bruce Coville
Ahoy Mrs. Hodson's Class -
Thanks for your message. I'm delighted to know that you enjoyed THE MONSTER'S RING so much. You might like knowing that I wrote the first version while I was teaching 4th grade, and Russell and Eddie are both based on real life kids I had in my class!
You asked some good questions. Russell and Eddie definitely became friendly, but I am not sure they actually became real friends.
Russell does indeed become a monster every full moon. How he hides it from his mother and father would be one of the main points of the story if I were ever to write a sequel. Since I haven't written a sequel, I never really worked that out!
I believe Russell absorbed the ring.
The "full moon monster" would be something else that I would have to work out if I wrote a sequel. For example, it might be that it is a cycle - he becomes the first monster on the first full moon, the second monster on the next full moon, and the mega-monster on the third full moon. And then it would start all over again. He only loses his clothes with the third transformation, but once he knew it was coming, he would probably strip first and put his clothes in a safe place so he could get back into them once he turned back in the morning.
Wow! That's more that I've thought about what would happen next than I ever did before. Great questions!
I hope you'll enjoy the rest of the Magic Shop books. There are no plans for another one right now, but you never know . . .
Your friend,
Bruce Coville
Thanks for your message. I'm delighted to know that you enjoyed THE MONSTER'S RING so much. You might like knowing that I wrote the first version while I was teaching 4th grade, and Russell and Eddie are both based on real life kids I had in my class!
You asked some good questions. Russell and Eddie definitely became friendly, but I am not sure they actually became real friends.
Russell does indeed become a monster every full moon. How he hides it from his mother and father would be one of the main points of the story if I were ever to write a sequel. Since I haven't written a sequel, I never really worked that out!
I believe Russell absorbed the ring.
The "full moon monster" would be something else that I would have to work out if I wrote a sequel. For example, it might be that it is a cycle - he becomes the first monster on the first full moon, the second monster on the next full moon, and the mega-monster on the third full moon. And then it would start all over again. He only loses his clothes with the third transformation, but once he knew it was coming, he would probably strip first and put his clothes in a safe place so he could get back into them once he turned back in the morning.
Wow! That's more that I've thought about what would happen next than I ever did before. Great questions!
I hope you'll enjoy the rest of the Magic Shop books. There are no plans for another one right now, but you never know . . .
Your friend,
Bruce Coville