A patchwork outing thicker of agenda than atmosphere and likely to prompt, title notwithstanding, a few mild snickers and...
What better place to haunt than a bookstore specializing in occult subjects and run by an ex-magician?
Pale and solitary in the wake of a terrible car accident, voracious reader Billy Shivers finds an awesome trove of the ghost stories he loves in the Haunted House of Books, presided over by Rexford Rapscallion—whose wolfish grin and mad laugh conceal a gentle heart embittered by the slings and arrows of punk teen vandals and other nonreaders. Ultimately Rapscallion challenges a group of said aliterates (who bear names like “Wilson Dirtbag” and “Lenore Gas”) to sit through a reading of a newly discovered tale co-authored by Mary Shelley and John Polidori. When the story itself leaves them, predictably, bored and uncomprehending, spectral agents in the shop step in to deliver whispered rebukes that send the thoroughly stereotyped ingrates screaming out into the dark and stormy night. Kerr never relates that (fictional) story, but he does insert five original spooky tales, along with lengthy rhymed rants about kids today and the benefits of frightening them. He also fills out the narrative with many digs at nonreaders (also lawyers and librarians), plus so-clever comments about the doorstoppers of author “Esteban Rex” (get it?) and other veiled literary references.
A patchwork outing thicker of agenda than atmosphere and likely to prompt, title notwithstanding, a few mild snickers and chills. (author’s note) (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-553-52209-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Extraneous elements, rampant psycho-symbolism and multiple point-of-view switches turn this into a loosely woven grab-bag,...
Having narrowly avoided becoming dinner in The Witch’s Guide to Cooking with Children (2009), sibs Sol and Connie face another folkloric fate in this equally gothic sequel.
Hoping to leave child-eating neighbor Fay Holaderry far behind, Sol and Connie board a departing bus—but then incautiously step off while the driver fixes a flat and are immediately lost in a justly ill-reputed forest. Fortunately, they run into Monique, a friendly forester who leads them to her cabin. Unfortunately, Monique is another evil witch, who transforms the children into animals for her bespelled huntsman, David, to hunt down and convert into taxidermy exhibits. McGowan infuses his tale with Brothers Grimm–style motifs and atmosphere, but obscure riddles, Sol’s homemade computer and several other elements turn out to clutter the story rather than contribute to it. Furthermore, David’s fatalistic ruminations on his curse (recorded in multiple journal entries) are likely to leave even adult readers cold, and his relationship with Monique comes off as, at best, ambiguous. Tanaka’s scenes of androgynous-looking children gradually acquiring animal parts ably abet the atmosphere.
Extraneous elements, rampant psycho-symbolism and multiple point-of-view switches turn this into a loosely woven grab-bag, but the resolution does provide some satisfaction. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: March 19, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9324-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Nov. 30, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
There’s a little too much reliance on stale tropes of fat villains and exotic (and unrealistic) foreigners, but this...
Debut novelist Larwood introduces Sheba, a 10-year-old crime-fighting Victorian werewolf.
Sheba's lived in a dilapidated freak show as long as she can remember, displaying her furred snout and clawed hands alongside Flossy the two-headed lamb. Her purchase by a new master introduces her to the first friends she's ever had: Monkeyboy, a foulmouthed and foul-smelling tailed boy; Sister Moon, a Japanese ninja girl; Mama Rat the rat trainer; and the enormous Gigantus. Newly introduced to London, Sheba's lupine nose is nearly overwhelmed by the city's legendary stench—but it comes in handy when she and her new friends embark on a detecting mission. The poor trash-pickers of the Thames mudflats are losing their children, and only Sheba and her freak-show friends—the Peculiars—can find them. They must rescue the children from a nefarious fiend, aided only by Sheba's nose, Sister Moon's ninjitsu skills, Mama Rat's rodent sidekicks, Gigantus' fists and Monkeyboy's putrid odor. Their adventures bring them from wretched sewers and taverns to the Victorian optimism of the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace.
There’s a little too much reliance on stale tropes of fat villains and exotic (and unrealistic) foreigners, but this mystery, peppered by gentle gross-out humor, will appeal to young steampunk fans. (historical note) (Steampunk. 11-13)Pub Date: March 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-47424-5
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Chicken House/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2013
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