Books like Monsters We Make by Cory Williams

The Hate U Give tracks 16‑year‑old Starr Carter, a Black teenager from a poor Bronx neighborhood who attends an elite private school, as she confronts police violence, social media battles, and community turmoil after witnessing her friend’s shooting.

Six of Crows is a fantasy novel in the Grishaverse that follows a crew of thieves in the city of Ketterdam, a Dutch‑inspired port, told through the third‑person viewpoints of seven characters.

Two strangers receive a call that they will die today and use an app to befriend each other, sharing a single unforgettable day that turns into a profound journey of love, friendship, and acceptance.

Ari, a fifteen‑year‑old Mexican‑American with a brother in prison, meets Dante and a friendship sparks that forces him to confront his identity, family, and sexuality.

In a future where humanity has eliminated hunger, disease, war, and death, only a chosen few—Scythes—can end life to keep the population balanced. Two reluctant teens, Citra and Rowan, are thrust into the deadly apprenticeship of a Scythe, learning the brutal art of taking life while facing severe consequences.

In a world where magic once pulsed through every stone, children of Orïsha fight to reclaim their heritage after a tyrant extinguishes their powers and their people’s hope.

A half‑Persian teenager struggling with depression finds belonging in Iran when a new friend shows him what it means to be truly understood.

Monster, a pest‑control specialist with a haunted girlfriend, teams up with night‑shift cashier Judy to battle dragons, trolls, and other monsters when a Yeti invades their grocery aisle.

The Monster Lives! (excerpt from Frankenstein) • (1818) • shortfiction by Mary Shelley [as by Mary W. Shelley ] The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar • (1845) • shortstory by Edgar Allan Poe The Dancing Partner • (1893) • shortstory by Jerome K. Jerome Moxon's Master • (1899) • shortstory by Ambrose Bierce The Monster Maker • (1887) • shortstory by W. C. Morrow (variant of The Surgeon's Experiment) And the Dead Spake • (1922) • shortstory by E. F. Benson (variant of "And the Dead Spake ...") The Stolen Body • (1898) • shortstory by H. G. Wells The Vivisector Vivisected • (1932) • shortstory by Sir Ronald Ross The Incubator Man • (1928) • shortstory by Wallace West The Plague Demon (excerpt from Herbert West—Reanimator) • (1942) • shortstory by H. P. Lovecraft 156 • The Strange Island of Dr. Nork • (1949) • novelette by Robert Bloch 182 • It • (1940) • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon 211 • Lazarus II • (1953) • shortstory by Richard Matheson 225 • The Golem • (1955) • shortstory by Avram Davidson 233 • Men of Iron • (1940) • shortstory by Guy Endore 242 • Changeling • [Marionettes, Inc.] • (1949) • shortstory by Ray Bradbury 253 • Robot AL-76 Goes Astray • (1942) • shortstory by Isaac Asimov 270 • Baby • (1958) • shortstory by Carol Emshwiller

"The human mind needs monsters. In every culture and in every epoch of human history, from ancient Egypt to modern Hollywood, imaginary beings have haunted dreams and fantasies, provoking in young and old shivers of delight, thrills of terror, and endless fascination. All known folklores brim with visions of looming and ferocious monsters, often in the role as adversaries to great heroes. But while heroes have been closely studied by mythologists, monsters have been neglected, even though they are equally important as pan-human symbols and reveal similar insights into ways the mind works. In Monsters: Evil Beings, Mythical Beasts, and All Manner of Imaginary Terrors, anthropologist David D. Gilmore explores what human traits monsters represent and why they are so ubiquitous in people's imaginations and share so many features across different cultures."--BOOK JACKET.