Jack Peter Keenan, a ten-year-old autistic boy living in a house by the sea in Maine, has been terrified to go outside ever since a near-drowning incident when he was seven. He spends his time playing with his one friend, Nick Weller, and drawing pictures of monsters. When apparitions from Jack Peter's drawings start appearing in the real world, his parents, Tim and Holly, look for answers. But only Jack Peter knows the truth.
The Boy Who Drew Monsters contains examples of:
- Art Initiates Life: Jack has the ability to make his artistic creations come to life, starting with an Imaginary Friend he made out of clay when he was five.
- Cacophony Cover-Up: When Miss Tiramaku goes to talk to Jack Peter, Tim, who disapproves of her, puts on a Frank Sinatra record so he and Holly can have a private conversation about her.
- Culturally Religious: Holly came from a Catholic family, but deconverted before she married Tim. Because of the problems in her life, she starts going to church as a coping mechanism, and she befriends Father Bolden and his Japanese housekeeper Miss Tiramaku, both of whom attempt to offer advice. Miss Tiramaku, who is autistic herself, tries to get through to Jack Peter, with somewhat more success than his parents.
- Dedication: "For Robert Andrew Larson"
- Family Versus Career: Tim was once planning to go back to college and finish his degree, but when Jack Peter came along, it was decided that Tim would be a stay at home dad, since Holly, as a lawyer, made more money than he did. Now Tim works as a caretaker for rich people's summer homes, a job that leaves him with plenty of free time for taking care of Jack Peter.
- Fleeting Passionate Hobbies: Before Jack Peter started drawing monsters, his obsessions were, in reverse chronological order, toy soldiers, board games, comic books, baseball on the radio, and model ships. There were earlier ones, but Nick doesn't remember them.
- Handshake Refusal:
- When Jack Peter spots some old bones on the beach through binoculars, his parents call the police. The officer tries to shake Jack Peter's hand, but he stays a safe distance away.
- When Miss Tiramaku visits the Keenans, Tim tries to shake her hand, but she bows slightly instead, confusing him.
- Hates Being Touched: Jack Peter was once an affectionate boy, but since his near-drowning, he only reluctantly tolerates touch. At the beginning of the book, Holly touches him to wake him, and Jack Peter is so startled he attacks her, leaving a bruise on her cheek.
- Homeschooled Kids: At the start of the book, Tim has homeschooled Jack Peter through second, third, fourth, and half of fifth grade.
- Not Now, Kiddo: Holly arrives home to find Jack Peter and Nick alone. Jack Peter tells her, "He's out there. Daddy tried to catch the monster," and offers to show her a drawing of it. Holly says, "Jack, honey, I have to listen to Nick now - can you be quiet, please?" She doesn't believe him even after Tim arrives home hours later, covered in blood.
- Only Friend: Jack Peter used to have friends in school, but after he developed his phobia, all of them stopped visiting him except for Nick. Although Nick has other friends, Jack Peter is the only one he sees outside of school, since the others are all put off by his alcoholic parents.
- The Shut-In: Jack Peter only leaves the house for doctor's appointments. Tim wraps him tightly in a stadium blanket on the way to and from the car.
- Sleepy Depressive: Nick had a brother who was stillborn the same summer Jack Peter almost drowned. Afterwards, his mother lay on the couch and didn't get dressed. To Nick at the time, it felt like an eternity, but in hindsight he realizes the worst of it only lasted a few days.
- Tulpa: Nick drowned in the ocean three years ago. Since then, Jack has been drawing him every day to keep him alive.
- Why Are You Not My Son?: Tim sees Nick as the normal child he could have had, and Nick's mother Nell as the wife he could have had in another life. Sadly, Holly even prefers Nick to her own son, but she is much more accepting that Jack is her son as Tim is.
- Why Couldn't You Be Different?: Even before Jack Peter developed his phobia, Holly viewed him as broken and longed for him to be normal. Although Tim is superficially more accepting and understanding of Jack Peter, that's just because he's convinced himself that he could potentially be normal, and used to take him to neurologists, therapists, and herbalists in search of a cure.
