To our own little monsters Sarah and Matthew We love you Mom Dad www abdopublishing com Published by Magic Wagon a division of ABDO PO Box 398166 Minneapolis Minnesota 55439 Copyright 2015 by Abdo Consulting Group Inc International copyrights reserved in all countries No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher Calico is a trademark and logo of Magic Wagon Printed in the United States of America North Mankato Minnesota 102014 012015 Written by Lisa and John Mullarkey Illustrated by Courtney Bernard Edited by Tamara L Britton and Bridget O’Brien Cover and interior design by Candice Keimig Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mullarkey Lisa author Mary molds a monster by Lisa and John Mullarkey illustrated by Courtney Bernard pages cm The art of time travel Summary Sixth-grader Maggie is stuck with insufferable Jacob on a class writing project and when they get into an argument over who really wrote the novel Frankenstein they suddenly find themselves in Switzerland in 1816 where Lord Byron and Mary and Percy Shelley are planning to write a scary story each the trouble is Mary has writer’s block ISBN 978-1-62402-088-9 1 Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft 1797-1851 Juvenile fiction 2 Time travel Juvenile fiction 3 Authors English 19th century Juvenile fiction 4 Writer’s block Juvenile fiction 5 Geneva Lake Switzerland and France History 19th century Juvenile fiction 6 Switzerland History 19th century Juvenile fiction 1 Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft 1797-1851 Fiction 2 Time travel Fiction 3 Authors Fiction 4 Authorship Fiction 5 Geneva Lake Switzerland and France History 19th century Fiction 6 Switzerland History 19th century Fiction I Mullarkey John author II Bernard Courtney illustrator III Title PZ7 M91148Mc 2015 813 6 dc23 2014032254
PROLOGUE MEET MARY SHELLEY 4 Chapter 1 BACK IN TIME 7 Chapter 2 A FLASH OF LIGHT 21 Chapter 3 THE CHALLENGE 33 Chapter 4 A SAILING LESSON 49 Chapter 5 A TERRIBLE ACCIDENT 63 Chapter 6 AN ADVENTURE 75 Chapter 7 MARY’S NIGHTMARE 87 Chapter 8 A BREAKTHROUGH 98 Chapter 9 FRANKENSTEIN IS BORN 106 Chapter 10 A NEW ARRIVAL 119
Meet Mary Shelley Mary Shelley created one of the most famous monsters of all time Since her novel Frankenstein Or the Modern Prometheus appeared in 1818 it has never gone out of print and has been translated into more than thirty languages To this day the book is considered the first great work of science fiction Mary Shelley was born on August 30 1797 in London England Her parents were philosopher William Godwin and women’s rights advocate Mary Wollstonecraft Mary’s mother died when she was just 11 days old Mary was educated at home and had access to her father’s library He encouraged her to read and write and expected her to excel in intellectual pursuits Those expectations were dashed when at age 16 Mary fell in love with poet Percy Bysshe Shelley They would marry on December 30 1816 In the summer of that year with Mary’s sister Claire the two traveled to Geneva Switzerland There they stayed with Percy’s friend George Gordon Lord Byron and Byron’s physician Dr John Polidori 4
One night Lord Byron posed a challenge Who could write the scariest story Mary was up to the challenge to prove herself worthy of her father’s expectations But she struggled with writer’s block and her frustration mounted as weeks passed without any progress Then Mary dreamed one night of a young doctor kneeling next to a human-like creation When she awoke she was encouraged to write about her dream On January 1 1818 500 copies of Frankenstein Or the Modern Prometheus were published The book was published anonymously At the time many believed that a woman was incapable of writing such a blasphemous story Percy was widely considered to be the author It wasn’t until the second edition was printed five years later that Mary’s name appeared on the book In 1822 Percy drowned in a boating accident A widow at the age of 24 Mary settled in England with the couple’s last living child Percy Florence She died on February 1 1851 Although Mary Shelley wrote other novels she will always be remembered for creating Frankenstein 5
