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I don't think I can put into words how much I love The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo by Drew Weing. Not only is Margo just about the coolest girl detective I have encountered in quite a while, she is kind of a ghostbuster. More accurately, Margo Maloo keeps the peace between the world of the humans and the hidden world of monsters in Echo City. Best of all, The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo started as a web comic and continues on line where you can read new chapters! The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo begins with Charles Thompson's move from a small town to the big city, a move he's not happy about. The Thompsons are moving into the Bellwether, a former hotel built in 1925 with authentic Art Deco fixtures. Along with a few other residents, they will get to live there for free while Charles's dad fixes the place up. Charles, not much of an outdoors kind of kid, fancies himself a budding journalist and writes a blog.
Charles meets Kevin, a neighbor who is trying to break a world record, any world record. Kevin tells Charles like where the best candy store in the neighborhood is and what to do if anything weird is going on in your apartment. It just so happens that, the night before, a huge monster crept out of the closet after Charles turned off the lights. Kevin hands him the business card of Margo Maloo, monster mediator, and the adventure begins.
Drew Weing brings a fantastic sense of humor, a marvelous eye for detail and a brilliant talent for world building to The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo. She and Charles head to the lair of a local troll named Marcus who collects Battlebeanz, specifically the Big Cat set. In one of Weing's superb details, he creates names for many of the Big Cats like "Dread-Lion," "Fight-Mare" and "Ty-Gore," and Marcus and Charles have a fast paced conversation about them. Another great scene comes at Ms. Koff's store, a grocery store for monsters hidden under a Quickmart. Weing's illustrations for these scenes are dark and creepy and filled with things you will pore over again and again.
Once he gets over his initial fear, Charles is hooked and wants to tag along with Margo, even suggesting he become her partner after he helps her find a missing ogre baby with a serious sweet tooth (yet another chapter with great twists, this one involving a kidnapper who wears a baseball cap and takes notes all the time but is not Charles...) In the end, Charles settles for assistant when Margo tells him he knows too much. She either has to put him to good use of have him "' accidentally' run into a pack of hungry ghouls."
Best of all, Weing's layered story ends with a few pages from an encyclopedia of monsters with Margo's notes in the margins! Which reminds me, another super cool think about The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo is the trim size of the book, which is exactly like a slightly oversized reporter's notebook! I can't wait for the next installment of creepy case files!
Source: Review Copy
The cover of The Curse of the Boggin, a brand new series from D. J. MacHale titled The Library, hooked me right away because it looks so similar to a series that I adore and am SO thrilled that my son has started reading so that we can talk about it, Lockwood & Co. by http://jonathanstroud.com/"target="_blank">Jonathan Stroud. While the actual similarities between the two series are slim at best, (Stroud's books feature teenaged characters and the world he creates is much more complex and creepy, the stories more intricate and the relationships between the main characters are layered and evolving) The Curse of the Boggin was an exciting read and the premise of The Library is a fascinating one!
After a prologue that sets up the adventure to follow in The Curse of the Boggin, we meet middle schooler Marcus O'Mara as he is standing up to a bully. Unfortunately, this bully just happens to be a teacher and Marcus is sent to detention where he has an incredible experience involving a mad, charging bull, a ghostly man in a bathrobe holding a key on a string and a shattered trophy case with the words, "Surrender the key," carefully arranged in broken glass. Once he realizes that he is not crazy, Marcus begins collecting clues that help him unravel the mystery of the key. This key leads to a very special library filled with the unfinished stories of the dead that need finishing. The holder of the key is tasked with the job of helping to finish these stories, allowing spirits to find peace and books to be shelved.
In this first book in the series, Marcus, who is adopted, learns about his parents, their mysterious deaths and the secret life his father led. He also learns that the Boggin, an ancient boogeyman summoned by the Druids to keep children in line, has gone rogue. In his quest to capture the Boggin and finish the story of the ghostly man in the bathrobe, Marcus is not alone. He has the help of his appropriately diverse friends. In fact, Marcus even comments that, with Lu, a red lipstick and plaid wearing Asian roller derby girl, and Theo, a buttoned up, bow-tie wearing academic black guy, Marcus says that the three of them look like a "kids' show trying to cover all its ethnic bases." Or, the look like characters in a middle grade novel where the author is trying to cover the ethnic bases while still keeping the main character a caucasian boy. I am growing increasingly weary of authors adding ethnically diverse minor characters to books instead of making the main character something other than white in the same way that I am profoundly frustrated with the proliferation of boys as main characters in middle grade fantasy. The formula has shifted from one or all boys as the main characters to a boy with a sister, cousin or friend who is a girl as a secondary character, often with another boy forming a trio. Now, with all the talk about diversity, we are getting ethnic secondary characters, which I guess is progress, even if it is moving slowly.
Marcus finds a way to capture the Boggin and save the day, along the way uncovering snippets of stories that are sure to be featured in the next book in this series. The action in The Curse of the Boggin is fast paced and explosive, although ultimately an illusion conjured by the Boggin itself. Comparing MacHale and Stroud's books, I would say that MacHale has written a book that is perfect for readers who like a touch of the supernatural and a lot of action with an underdog hero who, with a little bit of smarts, finds a way to save the day. Stroud's series is perfect for (slightly older) readers who want a more literary experience, delving deeper into both the world of the supernatural and the characters who inhabit it.
Source: Review Copy
Time is, Time was, Time is not What a bonus it is to have a new David Mitchell book only a year after the incredible The Bone Clocks. David Mitchell started this story on twitter but became obsessed with the story he had started and needed to see it through. The result is a ghost […]
Leo: A Ghost Story is Mac Barnett's fourteenth picture book (two of which have won the Caldecott Honor Medal) in six years. That might seem like a lot for an author/illustrator, but not necessarily for a picture book author. While I tend to prefer picture books where the author is also the illustrator, Barnett's books are favorites of mine and I love seeing his unique story telling style
The Greenglass House by Kate Milford, with superb cover art and spot art by Jamie Zollars is THE perfect book for spending time with over winter break, especially if you live in colder climes. The Greenglass House practically demands that you cozy up in a corner, ideally on a high-backed love seat like the one main character Milo often finds himself tucked into, reading The Raconteur's
Sadly, I am reviewing Through the Woods, stories by Emily Carroll a month too late. I bought this book back in July and Adam Gidwitz's review in the New York Times in which he reminds us the children like to be scared, should have been another nudge to me. But, creepy ghost stories, especially the graphic novel kind, are good all year round, right? With my students clamoring for scary
By: PennyF,
on 10/31/2014
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Every Friday this October we’ve unveiled a part of Fitz-James O’Brien’s tale of an unusual entity in What Was It?, a story from the spine-tingling collection of works in Horror Stories: Classic Tales from Hoffmann to Hodgson, edited by Darryl Jones. Today we’re wrapping up the story with the final installment. Last we left off the narrator, Harry, and his friend, Hammond, tied up an invisible entity, shocking the boarders of the haunted home where they had been staying. Will they learn more about the mysterious creature?
We watched together, smoking many pipes, all night long, by the bedside of the unearthly being that tossed and panted until it was apparently wearied out. Then we learned by the low, regular breathing that it slept.
The next morning the house was all astir. The boarders congregated on the landing outside my room, and Hammond and myself were lions. We had to answer a thousand questions as to the state of our extraordinary prisoner, for as yet not one person in the house except ourselves could be induced to set foot in the apartment.
The creature was awake. This was evidenced by the convulsive manner in which the bed-clothes were moved in its efforts to escape. There was something truly terrible in beholding, as it were, those second-hand indications of the terrible writhings and agonized struggles for liberty which themselves were invisible.
Hammond and myself had racked our brains during the long night to discover some means by which we might realize the shape and general appearance of the Enigma. As well as we could make out by passing our hands over the creature’s form, its outlines and lineaments were human. There was a mouth; a round, smooth head without hair; a nose, which, however, was little elevated above the cheeks; and its hands and feet felt like those of a boy. At first we thought of placing the being on a smooth surface and tracing its outline with chalk, as shoemakers trace the outline of the foot. This plan was given up as being of no value. Such an outline would give not the slightest idea of its conformation.
A happy thought struck me. We would take a cast of it in plaster of Paris. This would give us the solid figure, and satisfy all our wishes. But how to do it? The movements of the creature would disturb the setting of the plastic covering, and distort the mould. Another thought. Why not give it chloroform? It had respiratory organs,—that was evident by its breathing. Once reduced to a state of insensibility, we could do with it what we would. Doctor X—— was sent for; and after the worthy physician had recovered from the first shock of amazement, he proceeded to administer the chloroform. In three minutes afterward we were enabled to remove the fetters from the creature’s body, and a modeller was busily engaged in covering the invisible form with the moist clay. In five minutes more we had a mould, and before evening a rough fac-simile of the Mystery. It was shaped like a man,—distorted, uncouth, and horrible, but still a man. It was small, not over four feet and some inches in height, and its limbs revealed a muscular development that was unparalleled. Its face surpassed in hideousness anything I had ever seen. Gustave Doré, or Callot, or Tony Johannot, never conceived anything so horrible. There is a face in one of the latter’s illustrations to Un Voyage où il vous plaira, which somewhat approaches the countenance of this creature, but does not equal it. It was the physiognomy of what I should fancy a ghoul might be. It looked as if it was capable of feeding on human flesh.
Having satisfied our curiosity, and bound every one in the house to secrecy, it became a question what was to be done with our Enigma? It was impossible that we should keep such a horror in our house; it was equally impossible that such an awful being should be let loose upon the world. I confess that I would have gladly voted for the creature’s destruction. But who would shoulder the responsibility? Who would undertake the execution of this horrible semblance of a human being? Day after day this question was deliberated gravely. The boarders all left the house. Mrs Moffat was in despair, and threatened Hammond and myself with all sorts of legal penalties if we did not remove the Horror. Our answer was, ‘We will go if you like, but we decline taking this creature with us. Remove it yourself if you please. It appeared in your house. On you the responsibility rests.’ To this there was, of course, no answer. Mrs Moffat could not obtain for love or money a person who would even approach the Mystery.
The most singular part of the affair was that we were entirely ignorant of what the creature habitually fed on. Everything in the way of nutriment that we could think of was placed before it, but was never touched. It was awful to stand by, day after day, and see the clothes toss, and hear the hard breathing, and know that it was starving.
Ten, twelve days, a fortnight passed, and it still lived. The pulsations of the heart, however, were daily growing fainter, and had now nearly ceased. It was evident that the creature was dying for want of sustenance. While this terrible life-struggle was going on, I felt miserable. I could not sleep. Horrible as the creature was, it was pitiful to think of the pangs it was suffering.
At last it died. Hammond and I found it cold and stiff one morning in the bed. The heart had ceased to beat, the lungs to inspire. We hastened to bury it in the garden. It was a strange funeral, the dropping of that viewless corpse into the damp hole. The cast of its form I gave to Doctor X——, who keeps it in his museum in Tenth Street.
As I am on the eve of a long journey from which I may not return, I have drawn up this narrative of an event the most singular that has ever come to my knowledge.
Missed a part of the story? Catch up with part 1, 2, 3, and 4 for a frightening Halloween read.
Featured image credit: What happened by Thomas Mues. CC 2.0 via Flickr.
The post A Halloween horror story: What was it? Part 5 appeared first on OUPblog.
By: PennyF,
on 10/10/2014
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We’re getting ready for Halloween this month by reading the classic horror stories that set the stage for the creepy movies and books we love today. Check in every Friday this October as we tell Fitz-James O’Brien’s tale of an unusual entity in What Was It?, a story from the spine-tingling collection of works in Horror Stories: Classic Tales from Hoffmann to Hodgson, edited by Darryl Jones. Last we left off the narrator had moved into a reported haunted boarding house. After a month of waiting for something eerie to happen, the boarders were beginning to believe there was nothing supernatural at all in the residence…
Things were in this state when an incident took place so awful and inexplicable in its character that my reason fairly reels at the bare memory of the occurrence. It was the tenth of July. After dinner was over I repaired, with my friend Dr Hammond, to the garden to smoke my evening pipe. Independent of certain mental sympathies which existed between the Doctor and myself, we were linked together by a vice. We both smoked opium. We knew each other’s secret, and respected it. We enjoyed together that wonderful expansion of thought, that marvellous intensifying of the perceptive faculties, that boundless feeling of existence when we seem to have points of contact with the whole universe,—in short, that unimaginable spiritual bliss, which I would not surrender for a throne, and which I hope you, reader, will never—never taste.
Those hours of opium happiness which the Doctor and I spent together in secret were regulated with a scientific accuracy. We did not blindly smoke the drug of paradise, and leave our dreams to chance. While smoking, we carefully steered our conversation through the brightest and calmest channels of thought. We talked of the East, and endeavored to recall the magical panorama of its glowing scenery. We criticised the most sensuous poets,—those who painted life ruddy with health, brimming with passion, happy in the possession of youth and strength and beauty. If we talked of Shakespeare’s ‘Tempest,’ we lingered over Ariel, and avoided Caliban. Like the Guebers, we turned our faces to the east, and saw only the sunny side of the world.
This skilful coloring of our train of thought produced in our subsequent visions a corresponding tone. The splendors of Arabian fairy-land dyed our dreams. We paced that narrow strip of grass with the tread and port of kings. The song of the rana arborea, while he clung to the bark of the ragged plum-tree, sounded like the strains of divine musicians. Houses, walls, and streets melted like rain-clouds, and vistas of unimaginable glory stretched away before us. It was a rapturous companionship. We enjoyed the vast delight more perfectly because, even in our most ecstatic moments, we were conscious of each other’s presence. Our pleasures, while individual, were still twin, vibrating and moving in musical accord.
On the evening in question, the tenth of July, the Doctor and myself drifted into an unusually metaphysical mood. We lit our large meerschaums, filled with fine Turkish tobacco, in the core of which burned a little black nut of opium, that, like the nut in the fairy tale, held within its narrow limits wonders beyond the reach of kings; we paced to and fro, conversing. A strange perversity dominated the currents of our thought. They would not flow through the sun-lit channels into which we strove to divert them. For some unaccountable reason, they constantly diverged into dark and lonesome beds, where a continual gloom brooded. It was in vain that, after our old fashion, we flung ourselves on the shores of the East, and talked of its gay bazaars, of the splendors of the time of Haroun, of harems and golden palaces. Black afreets continually arose from the depths of our talk, and expanded, like the one the fisherman released from the copper vessel, until they blotted everything bright from our vision. Insensibly, we yielded to the occult force that swayed us, and indulged in gloomy speculation. We had talked some time upon the proneness of the human mind to mysticism, and the almost universal love of the terrible, when Hammond suddenly said to me,
‘What do you consider to be the greatest element of terror?’
The question puzzled me. That many things were terrible, I knew. Stumbling over a corpse in the dark; beholding, as I once did, a woman floating down a deep and rapid river, with wildly lifted arms, and awful, upturned face, uttering, as she drifted, shrieks that rent one’s heart, while we, the spectators, stood frozen at a window which overhung the river at a height of sixty feet, unable to make the slightest effort to save her, but dumbly watching her last supreme agony and her disappearance. A shattered wreck, with no life visible, encountered floating listlessly on the ocean, is a terrible object, for it suggests a huge terror, the proportions of which are veiled. But it now struck me, for the first time, that there must be one great and ruling embodiment of fear,—a King of Terrors, to which all others must succumb. What might it be? To what train of circumstances would it owe its existence?
‘I confess, Hammond,’ I replied to my friend, ‘I never considered the subject before. That there must be one Something more terrible than any other thing, I feel. I cannot attempt, however, even the most vague definition.’
‘I am somewhat like you, Harry,’ he answered. ‘I feel my capacity to experience a terror greater than anything yet conceived by the human mind;—something combining in fearful and unnatural amalgamation hitherto supposed incompatible elements. The calling of the voices in Brockden Brown’s novel of “Wieland” is awful; so is the picture of the Dweller of the Threshold, in Bulwer’s “Zanoni”; but,’ he added, shaking his head gloomily, ‘there is something more horrible still than these.’
‘Look here, Hammond,’ I rejoined, ‘let us drop this kind of talk, for heaven’s sake! We shall suffer for it, depend on it.’
‘I don’t know what’s the matter with me to-night,’ he replied, ‘but my brain is running upon all sorts of weird and awful thoughts. I feel as if I could write a story like Hoffman, to-night, if I were only master of a literary style.’
‘Well, if we are going to be Hoffmanesque* in our talk, I’m off to bed. Opium and nightmares should never be brought together. How sultry it is! Good-night, Hammond.’
‘Good-night, Harry. Pleasant dreams to you.’
‘To you, gloomy wretch, afreets, ghouls, and enchanters.’
Check back next Friday, 17 October to find out what happens next.
Headline image credit: Once Upon a Midnight Dreary by Andi Jetaime, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 via Flickr.
The post A Halloween horror story : What was it? Part 2 appeared first on OUPblog.
The Doll in the Garden: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn is a great book for a young reader who is looking for a good ghost story but needs a gentle start. The ghosts in this story are not malevolent, although there is a very cranky, mean old lady who hates cats. Approximately the same reading level as a Goosebumps book, Hahn's story offers a genuine ghost story without the
I have long known (from personal and professional experience) that somewhere around fourth grade, readers get a serious taste for spooky stories. Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories Trilogy, the first of which was published in 1981, is perennially popular with all readers and just received a cover update by the inimitable Brett Helquist, although I do miss Stephen Gammell's original, creepy
By: Mark Miller,
on 9/6/2013
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The ONE series is about raising awareness and raising funds for charity. Along the way, we get a little emotional, but sometimes have some fun. The latest story has a little of both.
2013 Story Eight
The Trucker Angel
by Janet Beasley
This is where knowing the author in person becomes such a treat. Everything that Janet wrote in this story is as honest and sincere as she is in real life. Normally, the author's stories are flights of fancy and epic adventures. I jokingly say this is mature writing for her.
All kidding aside, this story is packed with emotion and faith. She speaks briefly about her mother's condition, but one can read its effect throughout the entire piece. This story is sentimental without being sobby and mystifying without being cheesy.
The big question for me is "Did she see what she says she saw?" The answer may simply be that we all see what we need to see at certain moments in our life. An element of confidence and security comes from our faith. We feel good knowing that a higher power is watching out for us. Ultimately, I feel that is the author's message and one worth sharing.
About the book: 100% of the author’s proceeds will be donated to Bridge to Ability Specialized Learning Center, a not-for-profit organization serving the educational and therapeutic needs of fragile children with severe physical and cognitive disabilities.
www.BridgeToAbility.org. The authors, creator and publisher are in no other way affiliated with this organization.
Mark Miller’s One 2013 is a spiritual anthology examining True-Life experiences of Authors and their Faith. As the series evolves expect to discover what it means to have faith, no matter what that faith is and no matter where they live. Remember that we are all part of this One World.
In Story Eight, Janet Beasley tells of a supernatural experience that reaffirmed her faith. Before she was a best-selling author, she was a daughter. One of her simple pleasures has always been lunch with her mother. During one of these outings, Janet and her mother witnessed the unexplainable and believe it saved their lives.
About the author: Janet Beasley, best selling author of The Hidden Earth Series (a six novel series), is successfully carving her niche` in the inspirational epic fantasy genre for middle grades and YAs. Even the young at heart are enjoying the escape her writing style presents.
Her debut novel, Maycly the Trilogy, raised to the top 3 on the Amazon Religious Fantasy charts, and landed ahead of the Hunger Games on yet another. By appearing at local and out-of-state events, book signings, and speaking engagements, audiences are now perking up when they hear this author’s name…and it’s not just for her fantasy novels. Janet works with her sister and full time illustrator, Dar Bagby, to create more than just stories. Volume 1 Maycly the Trilogy expands by leaps and bounds with two companion books (a full color illustration book and a cook book), as well as an online memorabilia shop, and amazingly enough – gourmet dog treats.
Janet is multi-talented when it comes to her creativity. She excels in multi-media presentations, event planning, has developed a training center and its curriculum for AV technicians, and produced – directed – and served as a theater technician. She has written fiction - non-fiction – stage plays - and an autobiography. She has crafted award winning poetry, been published in anthologies, and trade specific magazines.
Janet enjoys the outdoors by kayaking and hiking with her husband, and photographing nature. She also loves animals (dogs are her favorite), spending time with her family, and baking cupcakes.
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First reviewed 11/20/09, this standout series features one of the most awesome girl protagonists I've encountered in middle grade fantasy. Stephanie/Valkyrie is smart, brave funny and not afraid to get beat up, which happens from time to time as she fights evil alongside Skulduggery Pleasant, the coolest, skeleton detective out there! A trilogy in the US, this series is actually an 8 book series
The Aviary is now in paperback! Just in time for summer, this historical mystery with a glimmer of magic will keep you reading late into the night to see how it ends!
What I love most about working as a bookseller is the opportunity I get to talk to other kid's book enthusiasts, be they kids or adults. I am especially grateful for the interactions I have with school librarians as they are
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On the Day I Died: Stories from the Grave is the newest book from the multitalented (and multi-awardwinning) Candace Fleming with
Liesl & Po is now in paperback!
Not sure which cover I like better...
Lauren Oliver has made quite a name for herself with her two young adult novels, Before I Fall and Delirium, a book I love almost as much Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, which is high praise. I was intrigued to learn that Oliver had written middle grade novel, especially after
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| Reading Level: | Young Adult |
| Format: | EBook |
| Publisher: | Bloomsbury Kids 7/17/12 |
| Parasols: | 4 |
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Jeannine Garsee captures the essence of mental breakdowns and ghostly encounters with grace. Rinn Jacobs is a 16 year old girl who is bi-polar. And because of this, she is to blame for the death of grandmother who died in a fire under mysterious circumstances. So mom and Rinn leave California and move across the country to her mom's hometown in podunk Ohio.
Once she arrives in Ohio strange things begin to happen. She meets up with some friends who are really mean girls in disguise. But she does meet the kindly-hearted Nate who takes an instant liking to the feisty Corinne. However, once Rinn finds out about Annaliese, she becomes obsessed with finding out more about her and the circumstances of her death twenty years earlier.
When strange things begin to happen to Rinn's friends, she believes that Annaliese is haunting them, but some people think that Rinn is imagining everything because she's not exactly the most mentally stable person in the world. Even Nate begins to question Rinn and her illness.
I absolutely enjoyed this story and I read several versions of this, but the finished product was perfect. I read an advanced copy so not a completely clean copy, but the message and the hysteria of the novel was dead on. You never knew if Rinn was just going crazy or if she was really seeing things that Annaliese wanted her to see. Rinn is not a very reliable nor credible main character, you're constantly second guessing yourself especially with the way that Garsee writes. Being a nurse for a busy psychiatric ward in Downtown Cleveland probably gives you more than enough credibility to write with such aplomb. The ending of the book is by far once of the more scariest and unbelievable turn of events that I've ever read and it will remind you of that final secret in THE SIXTH SENSE. I remember finishing the book and just sitting there with mouth wide open wondering what the hell. Damn you, Jeannine!
If you like a ghost story, a human interest story and one that has a slight love angle, then you'll really love this book. It's creepy, scary and downright bizarre in a good way. The twists and turns keep the reader on edge and you will find no cheese between those pages. You get pulled into the story and feel like you are Rinn and all her craziness.
I highly recommend this one and with the Halloween season coming upon us, it'll be a great time to dive into THE UNQUIET. It just might scare the bejeezus out of you.
I snapped up Rebecca Wade's The Whispering House and devoured it for two very pertinent reasons. First, as a bookseller, I have noticed over the last year or so that ghost stories have become very popular with readers of middle grade fiction. Also, I loved ghost stories when I was a kid. The two that left the greatest impression on me were Jane-Emily by Patricia Clapp and the Newbery Honor
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Mayra Calvani,
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Kimberly Dana's latest book will bring hours of reading pleasure to teen girls, especially those with a particular interest in cheerleading.
Years ago, a murder was committed in a cheerleading camp: a beautiful teenager with beautiful red flowing hair was drowned in the lake. Rumors say the killer was her best friend.
Now, ten years later, our witty protagonist Tiki Tinklemeyer is put in the same camp by her parents, who want their daughter to become more social and outgoing. But Tiki couldn't hate the situation more. She feels awkward and out of place, to say the least. She's not into fashion, makeup and boys, like the other girls in the camp. Worst of all, she's never done cheerleading in her life! How could her parents have been so cruel? How will she possibly fit in? Thank God, one of her roommates, Rubi, turns out to be rather nice.
Soon, Tiki finds out about the ten-year old murder and the rumors that the dead girl's ghost still roams the camp. Tiki can handle rumors of ghosts. After all, she's an intelligent girl with common sense. However, things take a turn for the worse when strange events begin to take place in the camp. Is it one of the girls playing a trick on her — or is it the ghost of the murdered girl?
This was a delightful read! Dana really has a talent for getting inside the head of teen girls. The voice is young and fresh and the pace moves quickly with lots of fun, quirky dialogue. So this is a soft horror story with a humorous twist. The story was intriguing enough to keep me reading throughout, and the ending was good, promising more to come in Book Two. The only thing I found a little annoying was how the author wrote the dialogue by some of the girls in capitals. At times it was too much, and I found it distracting. Because of this detail, I'm going to give this book 4.5 instead of 5. Recommended!
You may have heard of Roddy Doyle, the award winning Irish author of mostly adult books. You might be old enough to remember Alan Parker's 1991 movie adaptation of Doyle's book The Commitments about a soul band in Dublin. Maybe you have read my review of Doyle's very funny, slapstick kid's book, The Giggler Treatment. If you know nothing about Doyle, let me tell you that his Irish heritage
Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol, First Second, 2011, 224 pp, ISBN: 1596437138
Recap:Anya just wants to blend in. She's lost her Russian accent, lost all kinds of weight, and is scrupulously sure to stay away from Dimi - the other Russian in her class - just to make sure that none of his "fobby-ness" rubs off on her. But Anya is still pretty much a nobody at school.
That is until a ghost follows Anya home. Anya's ghost knows how to raise her grades and grab the attention of her crush. All of a sudden, Anya's life is looking good! But no favors come for free, and this ghost is asking for more than Anya is able to give...Review:Anya's Ghost is a Cybils Winner and a Round 1 Contender in SLJ's Battle of the Kids' Books (BoB). So it's got to be good, right?
Eh... I'm not so sure. Let's start with what I liked. The art throughout this graphic novel was outstanding. Honestly, I think Anya's Ghost has the best illustrations of any graphic novel I've read. The moody color palate perfectly matched the tone of the story, and Vera Brosgol did an amazing job of conveying emotion and personal transformation through each tiny square.
I thought the plot had a lot of promise. The ghost was initially completely loveable, and Anya's dismissiveness made me root for her even more. Then Brosgol did a great job of slowly, subtly showing the reader that the ghost isn't quite as innocent as she had made herself out to be. By that point, I had switched over to Team Anya and couldn't wait to see how she would react.
But that's point in the story where, unfortunately, Anya's Ghost started to lose me. A) It left me with a lot of unanswered questions. How did t
What I love most about working as a bookseller is the opportunity I get to talk to other kid's book enthusiasts, be they kids or adults. I am especially grateful for the interactions I have with school librarians as they are always a font of knowledge and inspiration. The Aviary by Kathleen O'Dell jumped out at me from the shelf the minute it arrived at the bookstore with its distinctive green
Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2010, 224 pp, ISBN: 0316043079
Recap:With Hurricane Katrina on its way, twelve-year-old Lanesha is all alone with Mama Ya Ya. Well, all alone unless you count the ghost of her Momma and a dog named Spot for company. Goodness knows her uptown family - her blood relatives - sure aren't going to do anything to help her.
And Mama Ya Ya was right when she foresaw that the storm wouldn't be the worst of their troubles. Lanesha's real work would be surviving what came after.
Review:Ninth Ward may be told through the voice of a child, but there is absolutely nothing childish about this story. Giving a warm, love-filled glimpse into what life was like in the Ninth Ward, prior to Hurricane Katrina,
Jewell Parker Rhodes eases her readers into Lanesha's tale.
In the person of Lanesha, Rhodes crafted a character that I hope students will look up to - socially on the fringe because of her ability to see ghosts, Lanesha wastes no time pitying herself because she isn't popular. Instead, she works her tail off in school, befriends the friendless, and lavishes love on those who do love her. Mama Ya Ya, the woman who raised her, taught her to love herself and that's exactly what she does.
"At lunch, I eat my tuna sandwich and apple juice at my table. I call it "my table," 'cause no one else will sit with me. But, unlike TaShon, I don't try to be invisible. I sit right in the middle of the cafeteria. I'm not ashamed of me."
Much of
Ninth Ward gives an inside look into what life was like for residents of New Orleans' Ninth Ward in the days leading up to, and after, one of our country's most notorious hurricanes. Many people there, like Mama Ya Ya, were too poor to own a car or too old to leave on their own two feet, so they were forced to stay in their homes for the duration. The flooding that followed was perhaps more terrifying than the storm itself - a disaster that Lanesha simply and powerfully illustrates.
It bears mentioning that
Ninth Ward is also a ghost story. Lanesha can see spirits and Mama Ya Ya has an uncanny ability to interpret dreams and foretell future events - an ability that saves more than one life in this story.
Recommendation:
A gem of a middle grade novel, and one that will surely resonate with older readers as well, Ninth Ward deserves a spot on you
As I started reading Faith Erin Hick's excellent graphic novel Friends with Boys, which started as an online comic, Vera Brosgol's wonderful Anya's Ghost came to mind right away. Both books have dark haired, outsider protagonists with big black eyes who are haunted by ghosts. However, Anya's ghost is kind of the evil twin to the ghost that has haunted Maggie McKay since she was a little girl,
When I first encountered Doug TenNapel's Ghostopolis last year it struck me as a creepy-kind-of-boy-book. However, I did take note of how well it was selling and one day while on break I began reading it and couldn't put it down. I was immediately drawn in to main character Garth Hale's story line as a kid with a terminal illness and his single mom, not your typical graphic novel hero. The
Driving home with her GPS last week, author Jennifer Weiner was inspired to write her first ghost story, Recalculating. She published the story today as digital Halloween treat.
It took Weiner five hours to draft the 35 page story about a haunted GPS device. In a matter of two days, the team at Atria Books edited the book and designed a cover. You can find the digital short for 99-cents on Amazon, on B&N and on iTunes.
What do you think? Here’s more about the book: “I was thinking of a darker, more dangerous kind of GPS. And then, I started asking the writer’s big question: why? Why would a GPS want to do a bad, bad thing? Just like that, I had a story. An abused wife. A dead husband who doesn’t want to stay dead. A gift-wrapped box in the attic…and a GPS that starts telling its new owner to make some seriously wrong turns.”
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To those who are interested....<br />Here in New Zealand there are a new series of covers for the books. They are mainly black and white with spots of themed colours around the place. The graphics feature both Skulduggery and Stephanie (or Valkyrie as you may call her). They are far less disturbing! Being the fantasy fan that I am, I quite enjoyed the graphics.<br /><br />Just putting it out
Wow! That is so interesting to think that there are all these different covers out there. I tried to find the covers you described - I wonder if they are the same ones on the website when you choose UK or Australia/NZ? The US link to the site shows the boring covers without images of Skul & Val. Thanks for sharing. I wish they published the books in the US at the same time as the rest of