Unearthly tales sure to tingle the spines of fans new and old.
Twelve chilling tales from the grande dame of the ghost story.
A goodly number of Hahn’s 20-odd novels deal with the supernatural, especially spirits, and here she collects some of her shorter tales. Matthew skips school to enjoy the spring weather, which turns on him. Killing time in an arcade until he can go home, he sees a sinister stranger who then gets on the bus Matthew must ride home. Meeting Vince that dark night changes Mathew’s life forever (and he may well “live” that long). Jenny buys a haunted dress and solves a murder from the 1920s. In the title story, Jeremy, bullied by students and a particularly mean teacher, has the bad luck to end up with a cursed puppet…but even curses sometimes turn out to be beneficial. Two of the tales have sports themes, and others are historical spookers, so there is something for every fan of paranormal page-turners. Characters default to white. Four of the tales were previously published in 1990s-era anthologies. In an afterword, Hahn explains why she writes ghost stories and includes one she wrote as a high school senior (reworked as “Trouble Afoot” for Bruce Coville’s Book of Monsters, II, 1996, and also reprinted here).
Unearthly tales sure to tingle the spines of fans new and old. (Horror/short stories. 8-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-358-06732-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2020
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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BOOK TO SCREEN
Classic action-packed, monster-fighting fun
It’s been 42 days since the Monster Apocalypse began, and 13-year-old Jack Sullivan, a self-proclaimed “zombie-fighting, monster-slaying tornado of cool” is on a quest to find and rescue his not-so-secret crush, June Del Toro, whether she needs it, wants it, or not.
Jack cobbles together an unlikely but endearing crew, including his scientist best friend, Quint Baker; Dirk Savage, Parker Middle School’s biggest bully; and a pet monster named Rover, to help him save the damsel in distress and complete the “ULTIMATE Feat of Apocalyptic Success.” Middle-grade readers, particularly boys, will find Jack’s pitch-perfect mix of humor, bravado, and self-professed geekiness impossible to resist. His sidekicks are equally entertaining, and it doesn’t hurt that there are also plenty of oozing, drooling, sharp-toothed monsters and zombies and a host of gizmos and gadgets to hook readers and keep them cheering with every turn of the page. Holgate’s illustrations play an integral role in the novel’s success. They not only bring Brallier’s characters to life, but also add depth and detail to the story, making plain just exactly how big Rover is and giving the lie to Jack’s “killer driving.” The marriage of text and illustration serves as a perfect example of what an illustrated novel can and should be.
Classic action-packed, monster-fighting fun (. (Graphic/horror hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-670-01661-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
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