I'd heard of FRANKENSTEIN MAKES A SANDWICH, but I wasn't aware that Adam Rex had done a follow-up. And what a great follow-up it is! The book is loosely organized around Frankenstein's wedding to his scary-haired Bride. We get to take a peek at the wedding preparations and watch the ceremony itself, but most of the book consists of poems about the wedding guests and their lives (or afterlives). The Headless Horseman complains about his pumpkin head on his blog. Dracula Jr. brings home a Pekingese. The Sphinx uses the desert as her own personal litter box. And Edgar Allan Poe is driving his raven crazy.

It's wonderful stuff. The poems are clever and readable. The monsters are both creepy and relatable. And the art is fantastic. Rex uses a number of different styles here, and they all click. As the book progresses, we see examples of old-time comic strips, painterly work, modern comics, altered photography, caricature, brush painting, line drawing, vectors... the list goes on and on. Rex is a wonderfully diverse artist, and he works well within every style he turns his hand to.

The only thing that had me wrinkling my nose was the e-mail forwards from outer space. Don't get me wrong, they're very well done, but the book is aimed at the 4-8 range. The older kids and their parents will likely the jokes, but I'm not sure how conversant your average 4 year-old is with spam.

All in all, though, this is a great book. Both children and their parents will appreciate the artwork, the clever rhymes and the wide variety of monsters who rear their ugly heads.

(Review copy provided by the publisher. This review originally appeared in a slightly different form on my blog, Stella Matutina). ( )