A thrilling new addition to the holiday literature canon.
This full-throttle farce sees Santa and a select team of warriors battle the bloodthirsty undead.
One Christmas Eve, Santa Claus and his trusted elf Elmont are delivering presents in the Long Island area. In the town of South Rich, at the Beady household, Saint Nick senses malignance in the air. Finding blood on the floor, he follows the spotted trail upstairs to the bedrooms of young Scotty and Suzy. Each child’s neck bears a two-pronged puncture wound! Mr. and Mrs. Beady—transformed into monstrous vampires—suddenly attack Santa, who defends himself with ancient magic (and a giant silver-and-gold candy cane). Elmont, descended from a proud lineage of warrior elves, helps as well. After winning the battle, Santa decides that delivering presents can wait; South Rich must be cleansed of vampires. Santa animates a snowman to help scout the area, and they soon encounter a man named Harold “Butt” Buttley fighting the undead. The pudgy citizen wears a gaudy Christmas robe, curses with abandon and believes deeply in the legend of St. Nick. When he learns that Santa searches for the Master Vampire, Harold suggests the abandoned mansion on Reacher’s Cliff. The four vigilant slayers head there without a moment’s delay. Debut author Fasone’s lovably maniacal tale springs to life with equally improbable prose; the slim narrative is full of lines like: “He then began following the tiny red splatters across the floor like a hungry chicken pecking a trail of corn.” Fasone also makes brilliant use of Santa’s ancient powers, which include time manipulation, night vision and frigid energy blasts. Lest readers fear that holiday camp tramples the potential for horror action, Fasone frequently offers the epic flair found in high fantasy works: “The thing dropped hard to the carpet, and its body burst into a blinding flame of brilliant albescent color, flashing hot and sizzling low in less than an instant.” Rudolf also makes an appearance—as it turns out, the red light of his nose is perfect for vanquishing evil.
A thrilling new addition to the holiday literature canon.Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2013
ISBN: 978-1492229094
Page Count: 98
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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