“Cherokee speakers view the world as a large room … in this room there are all the things that have happened, will happen, or could ever happen … behaviors that people engage in today are witnessed by their ancestors … the events that affected their ancestors are also visible in this room.” (Introduction) A collection of short stories set across 200 years and multiple generations of two connected families begins in 1839. Ama Wilson is fleeing with her family and other Tsalagi people, pursued for being Native, hoping to reach Indian Territory before the Texas Rangers catch up with them. Slowed by her little brother’s fever, Ama and her family stop to give him a chance to recover. A strange man speaking German sets up camp nearby and attacks the family in the middle of the night, killing Ama’s mother and “feeding” from Ama, setting her on the path to becoming a vampire. This hair-raising opener sets the stage for stories that follow. Ama makes appearances throughout, a benevolent but powerful monster among a cast of humans and monsters, some supernatural, including zombies and werewolves (some, like Ama, using their powers for righteous good), others humans with monstrous intentions and actions. Each story is firmly grounded in specifics of time, sometimes referencing characters from earlier stories and generations. Beautiful book design also graces this volume, which includes striking illustrations incorporating the Cherokee syllabary (the author is Cherokee) and two family trees. (Age 14 and older)

WALTER DEAN MYERS AWARD WINNER
AMERICAN INDIAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION YOUTH LITERATURE HONOR
INTERNATIONAL LITERACY ASSOCIATION BOOK AWARD WINNER
WHIPPOORWHILL AWARD WINNER
READING THE WEST BOOK AWARDS SHORTLIST
NEA READ ACROSS AMERICA RECOMMENDED TITLE

BEST OF THE YEAR
Washington Post · Booklist Editors’ Choice · Publishers Weekly · Horn Book · New York Public Library

Tsalagi should never have to live on human blood, but sometimes things just happen to sixteen-year-old girls.

Making her YA debut, Cherokee writer Andrea L. Rogers takes her place as one of the most striking voices of the horror renaissance that has swept the last decade.

Horror fans will get their thrills in this collection – from werewolves to vampires to zombies – all the time-worn horror baddies are there. But so are predators of a distinctly American variety – the horrors of empire, of intimate partner violence, of dispossession. And so too the monsters of Rogers’ imagination, that draw upon long-told Cherokee stories – of Deer Woman, fantastical sea creatures, and more.

Following one extended Cherokee family across the centuries, from the tribe’s homelands in Georgia in the 1830s to World War I, the Vietnam War, our own present, and well into the future, each story delivers a slice of a particular time period that will leave readers longing for more.

Alongside each story, Cherokee artist and language technologist Jeff Edwards delivers haunting illustrations that incorporate Cherokee syllabary.

But don’t just take it from us – award-winning writer of The Only Good Indians and Mongrels Stephen Graham Jones says that "Andrea Rogers writes like the house is on fire and her words are the only thing that can put it out."

Man-Made Monsters is a masterful, heartfelt, haunting collection ripe for crossover appeal – just don’t blame us if you start hearing things that go bump in the night.


P R A I S E

★ “Many of these stories sound as if they were passed down as family histories. It may read like speculative fiction, but it feels like truth.”
—Horn Book (starred)

★ “Stunning collection of short stories follows a Cherokee family through two centuries, beginning with something akin to a vampire attack and ending with zombies.”
—BCCB (starred)

★ “Spine-tingling...A simultaneously frightening and enthralling read.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred)

★ “Chilling… Exquisite… A creepy and artful exploration of a haunting heritage.”
—Kirkus (starred)

★ “Startling…Will leave readers—adults as well as teens—unsettled, feeling like they have caught a glimpse into a larger world.”
—Booklist (starred)