ABOUT THE AUTHOR
M. D. Payne is the author of the gross-out middle-grade horror series Monster Juice and for several books in the #1 New York Times Bestselling Who Was? series. A fan of kids, reading, and especially kids who read, Mr. Payne gives presentations on reading and writing to children and parents alike at numerous schools around the country, and around the world via Skype. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two girls.
Just in time for Halloween, Penguin Workshop, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers, recently launched YOU ARE THE CLASSICS, a new series of choice-driven stories for middle grade readers based on beloved literary works. In this piece, M.D. Payne, author of FRANKENSTEIN: Your Classics. Your Choices, and the gross-out middle-grade series Monster Juice, reflects on Halloween memories, Shelley’s scientific message, and the book’s lasting impact on today’s young readers…
In Middle School, I lived on Mountain Home AFB in Idaho. Bases are wonderful places to go trick-or-treating because almost everyone on base participates. The candy from 1992 had been ridiculous. My friend (who was dressed up as Dr. Frankenstein) and I (as Igor) were hoping for an even bigger haul Halloween Night 1993.
We were also out for a good time. At the end of the night, we walked (well, I shuffled) over to the Base Commander’s house and rang the doorbell. When he answered, we made a bizarre request.
“You’re a natural-born leader! A tactical mind! Your brains will be just perfect for our…work,” we snickered, holding out our bags. “Please…give them to us!”
We didn’t get the brains. But we got a laugh. And an entire bowl of candy! Score!
Halloween 2021 is around the corner, and it’s guaranteed that you’ll see a mad scientist, his monstrous creations, or the hunchback assistant lurking about looking for candy. All of these characters sprang from a timeless (and thoroughly gruesome) idea by Mary Shelley when she was barely 19.
203 years after its publication (and 90 years after the classic Universal picture brought it to a wider audience), Frankenstein is ALIVE! It has survived two centuries because of a timeless trope to which Shelley gave birth: if mankind went too far with science, it could create a monster that could destroy it.
This isn’t to say that science is all bad. Even Shelley knew that. She wrote a chilling cautionary tale to warn humanity about the hazards of playing God. However, it’s up to us as humans to make the right choices so that we don’t end up creating what are today known as—you guessed it—“Frankensteins.” Shelley’s creature, brought to life at the hands of Victor Frankenstein, is the 20th century’s atomic bomb, today’s genetic engineering nightmare scenario.
But, maybe there’s a good ending—maybe we as humanity can push science to the very limit and be rewarded. Dr. Frankenstein made too many bad choices, but what if he made the right ones? What would have happened to the monster had Frankenstein done the “right” thing?
That’s why writing the You Are the Classics edition of the book felt so natural, because Frankenstein is about choice. Yes, every book is, but for this classic in particular choice is front and center, as Frankenstein wrestles with his decision of what to do with the scientific knowledge he’s gained, and then how he chooses to act and who to tell (or not) after his grisly success.
Frankenstein: Your Classics Your Choices also shows what kind of reader a child is—will they make morally sound choices or delve even deeper into madness to create even more monstrous creations? What fresh horrors could be imagined!? The choices are theirs, and in giving children a choice while remaining true to Shelley and her “creation,” I hope that I’ve somehow added to Frankenstein’s lasting legacy.
