Review Detail

Roar of the Beast (Cardboard Kingdom #2)

Middle Grade Fiction 188

Cardboard and Halloween Costumes

July 01, 2021 (Updated: July 05, 2026)

Overall rating

4.0

Plot

4.0

Characters

N/A

Writing Style

N/A

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

As Halloween approached, the Cardboard Kingdom characters are getting ready, but there are problems. Elijah is worried that his stepbrother doesn't want as much to do with him, Alice is generally secretive and the costume plans, and Miguel is still trying to understand his feelings for Nate. Vijay, whose role is the Beast, is bullied by older teenagers, who make fun of his mask,and even though his sister Shikha confronts them, they still pop up and give the group problems. When Nate breaks his leg going after what appears to be a monster in the neighborhood, the group is on high alert. They form watches at night and worry that the monster will bring trouble to the neighborhood on Halloween. When they find out who is controlling the monster, will they be able to do anything about it?

Good Points

The best part of these books is the variety of characters. From Alice (who is always wandering aroudn with an evil plan saying "Bwa ha ha ha ha") to frightened Elijah to take charge Shikhas, the members of the Monster Mashers are well developed, and we get glimpses into their family life. My favorite is probably Animal Queen, who has a lot of power in the group, but whose parents don't want to let her go trick-or-treating.

The illustrations help the story a lot, and enables us to see what the children really look like in their costumes and also how they FEEL they look. Imaginative play is rather a lost art, and by middle school, tweens don't engage in quite as much of it. Even though there are some naysaying teenagers, it's good to see that there is a neighborhood group encouraging creativity in costuming, story writing, and general world building. How cool is it that there is a Dragon's Head Inn that serves refreshments out of a garage!

The color palette has a lot of purple and orange, which helps create the spooky feel of Halloween. There should be more middle grade books involving this holiday-- it's huge in the tween world because of the freedom that children are allowed to roam the neighborhood at night, costumes that allow children to take on other identities, and most importantly... candy!

Roar of the Beast is a good addition to imaginative graphic novels like Moyer's Ham Helsing: Vampire Hunter, Winnick's Hilo, and Graley's Donut the Destroyer.