Critters: Underdark

On opening Allan Dotson’s Critters: Underdark, readers will find themselves in what looks like a pet store: lots of (mostly cute) creatures in cages. These monsters, furry and otherwise, are in transit by train to be sold at the wizard’s market. As they begin to talk about how much they miss their families already, it’s clear the adventure is not by choice. Although united in their concern they’ll never see their families again, their distinct personalities and biases against their fellow captives quickly surface.

When the cabin door opens and a princess, their abductor’s daughter, enters, the monster’s biases against their captors and fellow captives surface, with some monsters gushing about her beauty while others spit hate in her direction. No matter how they feel about the princess, everyone falls silent when the train crashes and the cabin goes tumbling. As monsters escape their cages, a truly scary monster who caused the crash enters, intent on the kidnapping the princess. Sally, the most human-like of the creatures and the target of the princess’s bullying just moments before, would be happy to let the monster take the princess. The other monsters, much smaller and furrier, rush to her defense. When a furry but huge monster named Gronk joins in, the princess is saved. Now the monsters, along with the princess, have a new difficult task; they must work together to stay safe without pointing fingers and name-calling. With the help of other free critters, they’re able to evade everything from mad cows to trolls with stony stares while protecting the princess from numerous attempts to kidnap her and returning her to her mother. A small group of critters can do anything if they put their minds to it!

When the princess enters the cabin full of kidnapped monsters, it’s easy for some of them to consider her as guilty as her mother for their situation while others think someone so beautiful couldn’t be a bad person. As they get to know the princess, they learn her mother isn’t kind to her either. However, Sally, the most humanlike of the monsters and the only one the princess shows disgust toward, isn’t willing to believe the princess isn’t as evil as her mother. After the other monsters convince Sally to help, they’re able to save the princess and everyone continues on their quest to find a place to call home. Readers will have to wait until the next book, Wandering Monsters, to find out where they end up, if they see their mothers again, what new powers they develop as they get older, and whether they’re destined to turn into their parents whether they want to or not.

Critters: Underdark touches on several issues that readers will be able to connect with: making new friends; judging others and being judged; bullying; and making the right decision even when you’re scared. The fear of, and concern about, possibly never seeing their families again that the little monsters share with each other could be a very scary storyline for the book’s target audience, but the gentle way most of them speak, sometimes using incomplete sentences or mispronunciations showing how young some of them are, keeps it from becoming too unsettling. When it does get scary, Gronk, the large, strong, goofy, and brave monster, saves the day while providing great comic relief!

The ‘bonus’ at the back of the book with preliminary sketches and guest art by kids offers encouragement for readers to create their own characters and comics. Whether it’s making new friends, taking on a challenge, or creating a comic, Critters shows you’re never too young to try! Educators will have an easy time encouraging thinking about judging a book by its cover, bullying, being a good friend, and doing what’s right even when it’s difficult, and exploring these situations in a safe way with students through creating comics of their own, including their own imaginative characters.

Action-packed with tons of cute critters and lots of real-life problems presented in a non-threatening way, Critters: Underdark is hard to put down.