The Mango Monster

In The Mango Monster, a young girl named Marianne happily awaits the beginning of mango season with her father as the family has a tree in their yard that normally bears a lot of fruit. The next morning as Marianne’s father is leaving for work, Marianne, her cousin Zoe and Aunty Irene arrive at the tree only to find the lower branches have already been picked of their fruit. Marianne’s neighbour, Mr. Cruz, suggests it must be the workings of a monster that has stolen from the tree in the past. Marianne vows to catch this monster so the family can enjoy the mangos that are rightfully theirs. Mr. Cruz recommends sprinkling ash around the base of the tree so they can capture the monster’s footprints and see what kind of culprit they’re hunting, and Marianne sets the trap accordingly.

While eating their breakfast, Marianne and Zoe speculate about what features a mango monster would logically have. Afterwards, the two head back to the tree to find there is already a path of footprints in the ground marked with the ashes they had spread. The footprints are small and pig-like, but the two agree a pig would never be able to reach mangoes in branches and would just have to settle for mangoes that have already fallen to the ground.

Stymied, Aunty Irene suggests hanging bells in the branches of the mango tree so that, when the monster next strikes, the bells will ring, and the kids can run out and discover the culprit. After hanging the bells, the girls suddenly hear a loud ringing while eating their lunch, but they discover that their small bells have been set off by a squirrel rather than the mango monster. The girls reset the tree with the two biggest pots in their kitchen in the hope that they will be too big for a smaller pest to dislodge.

While everyone is napping in the afternoon, the girls are awakened by the clanging of the pots falling out of the tree. But again the traps have failed to trap their intended target as monkeys have dislodged the pots, and the girls rationalize that monkeys could not have been the earlier thieves as they generally make too much noise to discreetly steal the mangoes. After a moment of wondering if there is, in fact, any mango monster at all, Marianne spots something purple caught on the bark of the mango tree, a finding that renews their faith in an unknown monster. The two vow to set every type of trap that night in a renewed effort to capture the mango monster.

The next morning, the girls are again awakened, this time by all their different individual traps being set off. Outside, they discover Marianne’s father on the ground below the tree under a pile of mangoes, bells, pots and ash. Upon being accused of being the mango monster, Marianne’s father explains that he has been waking up early to harvest some of the tree’s mangoes and take them to a local food bank on his way to work so the family can share the wealth that they get naturally from the tree. Learning the truth, the two girls realize that the mango tree does indeed provide more fruit than they could ever eat and get to work harvesting boxes and boxes of mangoes for Marianne’s father to take to the food bank. The story ends with both Marianne and Zoe gleefully declaring themselves the mango monsters.

In The Mango Monster, Derek Mascarenhas has cleverly crafted a mystery to entertain younger readers, one which leads seamlessly into a message of appreciating the things we have and always being aware that there are others who have less than us. Meneka Repka’s illustrations complement the prose, giving the story a lush colour palette and a dynamism to each action and reaction in the story, thereby maintaining the lively pace of the narrative.