by Charles Gilman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 15, 2013
Worth a look for fans of Spiderwick and the ever-living Goosebumps.
Ancient squirming evil from dark dimensions beyond threatens to take over the world—starting with the student-council presidency.
In series opener Professor Gargoyle (2012), Lovecraft Middle School seventh-grader Robert Arthur and his former nemesis, Glenn Torkells, saved their new school from the eldritch demon inhabiting Professor Goyle’s body. Now, crazed physicist Crawford Tillinghast, currently trapped in another dimension, is attempting to take over Lovecraft Middle School by gaining control of the student council with his minions, two snake-haired demons disguised as popular girls Sarah and Sylvia Price. Can Robert and Glenn defeat the dimension-hopping monsters with the help of ghost girl Karina and slightly creepy librarian Ms. Lavinia, or will the cthulhu hordes overrun us all? Gilman’s second entry picks up where the first left off and adeptly sets up the third, to be released two months hence. It’s another slightly creepy, often funny read that doesn’t require much of its audience (least of all knowledge of the works of H.P. Lovecraft). Occasional action-packed and monster-filled black-and-white illustrations and another motion-activated lenticular cover add eye-catching zest. Though it can stand alone, much is set up in the first book.
Worth a look for fans of Spiderwick and the ever-living Goosebumps. (Humorous horror. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-59474-593-5
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2012
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by Charles Gilman ; illustrated by Eugene Smith
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by Charles Gilman ; illustrated by Eugene Smith
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by Ally Malinenko ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 10, 2021
A didactic blueprint disguised as a supernatural treasure map.
A girl who delights in the macabre harnesses her inherited supernatural ability.
It’s not just her stark white hair that makes 11-year-old Zee Puckett stand out in nowheresville Knobb’s Ferry. She’s a storyteller, a Mary Shelley fangirl, and is being raised by her 21-year-old high school dropout sister while their father looks for work upstate (cue the wayward glances from the affluent demography). Don’t pity her, because Zee doesn’t acquiesce to snobbery, bullying, or pretty much anything that confronts her. But a dog with bleeding eyes in a cemetery gives her pause—momentarily—because the beast is just the tip of the wicked that has this way come to town. Time to get some help from ghosts. The creepy supernatural current continues throughout, intermingled with very real forays into bullying (Zee won’t stand for it or for the notion that good girls need to act nice), body positivity, socio-economic status and social hierarchy, and mental health. This debut from a promising writer involves a navigation of caste systems, self-esteem, and villainy that exists in an interesting world with intriguing characters, but they receive a flat, two-dimensional treatment that ultimately makes the book feel like one is learning a ho-hum lesson in morality. Zee is presumably White (as is her rich-girl nemesis–cum-comrade, Nellie). Her best friend, Elijah, is cued as Black. Warning: this just might spur frenzied requests for Frankenstein.
A didactic blueprint disguised as a supernatural treasure map. (Supernatural. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-304460-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
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by Lora Senf ; illustrated by Alfredo Cáceres ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 17, 2023
Deliciously dark and gripping.
Evie enters the otherworldly place called the Dark Sun Side, searching for Blight Harbor’s missing ghosts in this sequel to 2022’s The Clackity.
Twelve-year-old Evie Von Rathe returns, this time following the trail of missing ghost Florence and finding herself lured to the Dark Sun Side by ghoulish, evil Portia. Once there, Evie learns about the Radix, a swirling, black, oceanlike expanse of unforgiving magical power. In exchange for Evie’s return to the land of the living, Portia tasks her with retrieving the soul light from the center lantern of the Nighthouse. With the help of Bird, her tattooed sidekick who moves about her body at will, and a girl she meets on her journey named Lark, who is neither ghost nor human, Evie is pushed to her limits as she navigates this terrifying world on her important, soul-saving mission. Senf’s nightmarish, well-imagined supernatural landscape is original and compelling. Evie and Lark’s friendship is believably close and trusting, their shared pain and fear binding them together. Bird continues to be a scene-stealing companion, a necessary voice of reason and encouragement for Evie and readers alike. More than just a battle between good and supernatural evil, this story shows the ultimate power of empathy and tenacity. Readers will be left both satisfied by the ending and wanting more. Evie is cued white.
Deliciously dark and gripping. (Horror. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023
ISBN: 9781665934633
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
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by Lora Senf ; illustrated by Alfredo Cáceres
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