Growing Up With Monsters, by Carla Laemmle and Daniel Kinske

The days of the classic Universal Monsters seem to be of such a bygone era. Especially the silent years. It's impossible for anyone in this day and age to have firsthand memories of them, right?

Wrong.

Everyone here ought to know that Universal was founded by Carl Laemmle, who ran the studio during its illustrious monster years. Laemmle had a niece named Carla and this young girl had free run of the studio in her youth. She delights readers in a charming new book called Growing Up With Monsters. Carla Laemmle is 100 years old this year and she celebrates her centennial birthday by telling us a bewitching bedtime story.

Growing Up With Monsters is a wisp of a book, but it is so wonderful that I recommend it wholeheartedly. Ms. Laemmle tells her story in a series of enchanting verses and the book is lavishly filled with illustrations by the great Jack Davis and Hermann Mejia. Following the story is a picture gallery, some of which are familiar to horror fans and others are rarer.

I can't say enough good things about this lovely little book. Carla Laemmle and her co-author Daniel Kinske won my heart on the very first page and reading it left me with a warm feeling. That's something all of us need in these trying times.

For about the price of an average small press chapbook, you can own something precious and truly timeless. Don't pass up Growing Up With Monsters. This is a book that should be treasured by anyone from age three to one hundred and three.

Growing Up With Monsters is available at a discount from Amazon, but autographed copies can be obtained at the book's website. The site was still under construction when I ordered mine and I got it from Amazon. Now I wish I had gotten the autographed edition.