Delectable hints of age-appropriate, Lovecraftian Otherness…with none of the purple prose.
Can unnameable forces of ancient evil be recycled?
Eleven-year-old Robert Arthur has been redistricted. While his friends in Dunwich, Mass., attend Franklin Middle School, he has to attend Lovecraft Middle School. Lovecraft is brand new (though some fixtures and other building materials came from a demolished, possibly haunted local mansion), and everything in the school is state of the art, but Robert is totally alone…except for Glenn Torkells, who daily extorts a dweeb tax from Robert (just like he did all through elementary school). Strange occurrences start on day one, when every student finds a rat in their locker. A trip to the school library lands Robert in a strange, dusty attic, where he acquires a two-headed stowaway in his backpack. Pip and Squeak (the polycephalic rat) infuriates the science teacher, Professor Garfield Goyle, who turns out to be much more (scary) than he at first appears. Can Robert and his new friend Karina solve enough of the mysteries surrounding their school to survive? Gilman’s debut and series kick-off will be great fun for fans of light horror. The changing image on the cover will snag interest, and the spookily realistic black-and-white illustrations throughout complete this slick, scary, funny package.
Delectable hints of age-appropriate, Lovecraftian Otherness…with none of the purple prose. (Humorous horror. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-59474-591-1
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A realistic, visceral portrayal of a boy’s coming-of-age.
After the summer of 1975, life will never be the same for Jimmy, a small-town boy, in this YA novel.
It’s the 1970s in Walnut Creek, in an unnamed U.S. state, long before cellphones and social media, and preteen Jimmy Hamilton daydreams about big league baseball, throws crab apples at the neighbor’s cat, and hopes his mom doesn’t order him to tear down his tree fort. On the plus side, summer and Little League are about to start. If only his mother wouldn’t drag him to the library every week. (Jimmy’s dim view of libraries is a frequent reminder of the book’s subtitle: “for those who hate to read.”) When an accident occurs on his 11th birthday, Jimmy’s summer takes a disappointing turn. In this uneasy mix of small-town Americana (baseball, church, home-baked cookies, playing catch in the backyard with Dad) and coming-of-age angst (angry outbursts, verbal obscenities, a first crush, upturned friendships), Jimmy plans to prove himself on the pitcher’s mound and to keep invading girls and rowdy teens out of his new fort in the woods. The latter intention leads to the novel’s sobering conclusion, involving a shunned homeless man with baseball skills. The book shines brightest in its depictions of baseball through Jimmy’s eyes. At night, the cornfield is “silhouetted against the outfield fence….The magic of the game filled the bleachers,” and the “Bermuda grass was crisp under their spikes.” Less magical is the boys’ oblivious, laughing cruelty; for example, Jimmy disembowels a living snake and pokes a knife into the three-legged frog the snake had consumed. The boys compare the frog to “that cripple with just the one arm who sits in his wheelchair out in front of the grocery store.” Jimmy’s nascent hormonal confusion rings true, however, and there’s heart in the book’s depictions of his caring mom, a girl with empathy and “chocolate eyes,” and the epiphanic ending.
A realistic, visceral portrayal of a boy’s coming-of-age.Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2024
ISBN: 9781685134815
Page Count: 220
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
After fighting the evil Blouts in The Otherworldlies (2008), Fern must now face a deadlier menace: rooming with the school's...
Twelve-year-old Fern is an Otherworldly, a vampire—though why a non–blood-drinking, non-immortal, naturally born, teleporting telekinetic is called a “vampire” is left as an exercise to the reader.
After fighting the evil Blouts in The Otherworldlies (2008), Fern must now face a deadlier menace: rooming with the school's mean girls on a class trip to Washington, D.C. Fern's only distraction from the bullies tormenting her is her vision of a boy in a cage. The boy, she discovers, is Miles Zapo, a kidnapped Otherworldly just Fern's age. Fern suspects Miles, like her, is one of the Unusuals, destined to do something or other. (It's not clear what’s so Unusual, and it doesn't really matter; as long as there's a prophecy it's important, right?) The kidnapper is the dastardly Silver Tooth, also known as Haryle (“Hair-uh-Lee”) Laffar, brother of evil Vlad from Fern's previous adventure, and possessed of even more mysterious and evil secrets. The Smithsonian, the Hope diamond, moon rocks and mohawked, scaled, monstrous birds all play a part in Haryle's villainous plans for Miles and Fern. A firmly middle-school adventure (despite packaging attempting to capitalize on the paranormal craze among older teens) composed of cartoon villains, unconvincing heroes and a muddled, nonsensical plot.Pub Date: June 28, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-199443-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
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