THE ADVENTURES OF TOBY BAXTER BOOK 4

In the fourth book of Wright’s middle-grade series, its teen protagonist journeys to a fantasy realm to save his crush from trolls.

Seventh grader Toby Baxter is on an end-of-school trip to Minnehaha Falls when he bumps into Rainie, his crush. Though they’ve never actually spoken, and Toby hasn’t seen her for a year, it seems that Rainie likes him, too. She gives him her phone number. Toby swoons! Then calamity strikes. A portal opens up to RiverHome, the magical world visited by Toby in previous adventures. Rainie is abducted by trolls. Toby runs to help, pursued by Derrick, the school bully. Both pass through the portal, though they end up in different parts of RiverHome, and Toby reunites with his river elf friends (a lengthy cast list is provided). Derrick joins Plythar, the troll leader, in his plan to destroy Toby once and for all. Rainie, meanwhile, finds herself locked up in a troll dungeon alongside the gnome Roxie, whose wedding (to Phoenix the elf) Toby is due to attend. Can Toby, Phoenix, and friends rescue their beloveds, or will Plythar and Derrick prevail in their villainy? Readers of previous Toby Baxter books will be familiar with Wright’s droll style, which layers frequent, italicized asides from Author (both a character in the story and the writer of books about Toby’s adventures) onto an omniscient third-person narrative told from various characters’ perspectives. These interjections often riff on notions of language and vocabulary. For example: “Deciding to remind Toby of who was the boss, he and his friends sauntered…sauntered? Is that like walking?…over to do a bit of friendly harassing of Toby.” Toby once again emerges as a typical teen boy, his reactions to kissing and romance a realistic blend of affected disgust and secret, burgeoning interest. As in previous volumes, the story contains a large number of superfluous characters. These may confound new readers, but they do provide a sense of familiarity when events stray into darker territory. Fans of the series will be well satisfied.

Lively and self-aware. A fantasy escapade for readers of all ages!