Now Available:
James's Book of Unscary Monsters
You can find Michael’s latest book on Amazon!
A humorous tale about defeating fear with humor and imagination
The fear and fright of bumps in the night can make any child’s imagination run wild. Is it a ghost? A vampire? A witch?? Our young hero James, embarks on an adventure encountering all these ghastly monsters and uses his powerful imagination to turn these fearful ghouls into hilarious souls; proving once and for all that there is nothing to fear from those noises in the night.
Written in tongue twirling rhyme, and accompanied with uniquely humorous illustrations painted on acrylic glass and tapestry, children will be clamoring to read this book over and over.
Featuring:
- 40 Pages of thrills and fun as James uses his imagination to make those monsters “unscary.”
- 18 beautifully hand painted acrylic illustrations created on a combination of tapestry and glass.
- Twists on classic monsters that can be enjoyed by kids from 5 to 105!
It's an Award Winner!
In January, 2025, “James’s Book of Unscary Monsters” was awarded an Honorable Mention Royal Dragonfly Award for Children’s Books Ages 6 and up. The Royal Dragonfly Book Awards recognize excellence in children’s literature.
Purchase Options:
The book is currently available on Amazon as both a paperback ($20.00) and an ebook ($6.99). Paperbacks are also available at Barrington Books in Barrington, RI and at Bookmarks in West Chester, PA.
You can also purchased signed copies (with personalization) by Michael on Etsy. Click the links below.
5-Star Editorial Review from Reader's Favorite:
Reviewed by Jennifer Reinoehl for Readers’ Favorite
James’s Book of UnScary Monsters is a wonderful book by Michael Pekala to help children work through their fear of monsters. James decides to explore his house at night. Although he knows that there is a logical explanation for most of the bumps in the night, he soon discovers a variety of monsters—from vampires to ghosts to the headless horseman. Each time he starts to fear one, though, he controls his imagination by changing something about the monster and turning it into something “unscary.” Each monster will have you guessing how James is going to change it.
In our society, some children are more sensitive than others to scary creatures. Since it is impossible to protect sensitive children from everything, books like James’s Book of UnScary Monsters are important for addressing their fears. Michael Pekala’s rhyming couplets maintain the meter and do not feel forced. Some of the trickier rhymes were handled quite well. The pictures are amazing and created by hand—giving children the chance to see real art. Pekala even adds a page at the end that explains how he made the artwork by painting on upholstery. Teachers could use this book to extend into an art lesson. This book would also be good for teachers to use as a book with a Halloween theme that will appeal to all children without scaring them. As an adult, the bogeyman grossed me out, but children of the middle and lower elementary age groups will love it! On the other hand, I think every parent’s favorite will be the zombie (or should I say mombie) as it was mine.
A portrait of the hero: my son James!
From Michael: The Story Behind the Story
Back in 2003 I was taking a RISD class based around coming up with ideas and one of those ideas was this children’s book that made monsters “unscary.” The humor came into play when these “unscary” versions were often scarier than the originals. I had 3 monsters initially: Vampire, Mummy and Werewolf. The only text was the word “Vampire” under the photo of the vampire and “Braced” under the photoshopped vampire with braces on his teeth.
Fast forward 10 years later to 2012. I revisited the project, pushing it much further along than it had ever been before. I wrote a story in rhyming verse and did a pass of digitally collaged monsters. The illustrations were different and fun, but I was struggling with how to keep the style cohesive amongst my many monster ideas.
Years passed, me and my wife started a family and I got back into illustrating. Pen and Ink works evolved into water color, which evolved into acrylics and then into acrylics on stretched upholstery fabric. I got into juried shows. I started to win prizes. I collected many of these upholstery fabric illustrations into my first self-published book, “Ella Lee in to Catch a Hummingbird,” starring my daughter (and second born) Ella.
My son and first born could only help but ask one question: “Where’s my book?” Haha.
I went back into the “Unscary Monsters” story and gave it a proper protagonist in my son James who uses his imagination to combat these scary ghouls and souls. A further evolution in my style that introduced acrylic glass along with the upholstery fabric has allowed for me to create the “scary” and “unscary” monsters on the glass while keeping the upholstery fabric backgrounds the same. It is finally all coming together!
Making Monsters
A Look at Michael’s Illustration Process
Michael’s unique way of producing his illustrations has been honed over the years. He starts off by stretching the fabric like canvas on stretchers. Next, he preps the fabric with gesso and paints the background. Then, in the case of the monsters, he paints the “scary” monster on one sheet of acrylic glass and then the “unscary” monster on another sheet. Both sheets are placed over the same fabric canvas like animation cells over a painted background.
1) Stretch the Fabric like Canvas
2) Paint the Fabric
3) Paint the “Scary” Monster on Acrylic Glass
