The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls

Have I raved enough in the past about the women that I work with? Two super cool librarians who have lots of publishing contacts and are willing to share them! They recently went to a breakfast and came back with a book bag full of kid/tween lit for me! So Yay! And thanks to Jen and Karyn!

So, The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls is aWizard of Oz based fantasy for the tween set.

Poor Ivy. A Jinx has followed her since she broke a mirror almost seven years ago. No matter where she and her mother move, bad luck follows. In fact, getting to Gumm Street is the first good thing that has happened in a long time. Ivy and her mom have inherited Aunt V's old house.

Gumm Street happens to be the very street where Pru, Cat, and Franny live. You would think that 3 girls of the same age who live on the same street would be friends. Well, they used to be. Not any more. After all Pru is all stuck up with her nose perpetually in a book, Cat is a great big show off and queen of the cartwheels, and Franny has so many big ideas that she cannot possibly follow through with any of them!

When Ivy moves to the block, a piano is mysteriously delivered and the elusive Mr. Staccato - piano teacher extraordinaire - shows up to offer some lessons. Ivy's first lesson shows her that there is something else to Mr. Staccato besides piano! His dogs seem to talk, and he has a museum room filled with movie memorabilia from way before her time. The prize of which seems to be ruby slippers.

An adventure soon begins with the girls having to get together and work together to defeat the crazy Aunt Cha-Cha and her creepy nieces Bling-Bling and Coco. The girls travel to Spoz, then Spudz and each of them works to find their "unique talent" that Mr. Staccato has told them they possess.

I am not sure how to really describe the plot. Elise Primavera has written lots of plot! I think that kids who have read The Wizard of Oz series will get more out of this book than kids who have not read it. There is a large amount of magical realism, and necessary suspension of belief is required to get through. I did, however, really enjoy the book. I think that it is written on a couple of levels where older readers will get the wry writing style and younger readers will get an adventure story.

I had fun!

Pish Posh

This book has got the cutest cover I have seen in a long time!

Clara Frankofile is everything that you would think a pre-teen, Manhattanite snob would be. Daughter of famous restauranteur Pierre and socialite Lila, Clara spends every evening dining alone at the back of Pish Posh and spends her time deciding who has become a Nobody. Pish Posh simply wouldn't be the elegant place it is if they let anyone in!

The times when Clara is not in the restaurant, she is spending time in her own apartment...her parents live in the apartment below her. It's more convenient that way. Clara has everything she could wish for there...a roller coaster room, a Brooklyn neighbourhood room, bumper car room. Her favourite room, however, houses a massive tree from Yungaburra Australia.

After banishing Dr. Piff from Pish Posh, Clara ends up in her tree room. She has just opened the ceiling hatch and is sitting in the branches when she notices a ruckus on the street below. Everyone seems to be pointing to her rooftop. Upon squinting down, Clara notices a girl about her age looking for an escape. Against her better judgement, Clara helps the girl up into the tree and closes the hatch.

Enter Annabelle. Plain, assertive and a thief, Annabelle is not like the people with whom Clara tends to associate, let alone someone who she would befriend. But life has a funny way of taking twists and turns and sometimes you end up in places you would never imagine.

Pish Posh is part adventure, part fantasy, and part friendship fiction. There are many levels to the story, and each, I am happy to say, is delightful as well as thoughtful. It is a NYC-centric story, but I think that the tween set will love it no matter where they live!

Much Ado About Grubstake

Imagine my surprise when just as I finished Once Upon a Marigold, Jen receives a lovely box from a publisher containing Jean Ferris' Much Ado About Grubstake. Happiness, indeed!

It is 1888 in tiny Grubstake Colorado. Grubstake was once a vibrant mining town, and now only the stragglers are left. 16 year old Arley runs the town boarding house on her own ever since her daddy blew himself up in their mine, Never Mine. Arley escapes her dreary life by reading her Penny Dreadfuls that she picks up once a month from the train delivery. In the Dreadfuls, life is so exciting. Arley wishes her life could be exciting too!

You know what's coming...."Be careful what you wish for..."

Soon wealthy Charles Randall rolls into town on the monthly train wanting to buy up all of the mines to make Grubstake into a resort. Arley and friends Everdene, Bridget and Wing are suspicious. Who would want to go to a resort where it rains all the time?

Randall's associate Morgan takes a room in Arley's house. He has no last name, is always dressed in black, and has a scar running the length of his cheek. Just like a villain in a Penny Dreadful! Can Arley's snooping lead to some answers?

A fun romp of a story, filled with quirky characters and action, Much Ado About Grubstake is perfect for younger YAs and sophisticated tweens.

Once Upon A Marigold

I have been looking at this book on the shelf in my library forever. It has that wonky font that I love for the title, and the title itself was intriguing. I know that Jen has been booktalking it to the 5th graders forever. I don't know why I hadn't read it sooner.

Ed is a simple troll minding his own business looking for cast off things in the forest when he happens upon Christian. This little boy in the velvet suit is hiding in a bush with the firm idea that he is running away. He is six and does not like the rules of home. After all, it is hard for a six year old to stay quiet and clean all the time.

It is getting dark, so Ed takes the boy back to his cave for the night. What was to be one night turned into many, many nights.

Christian is now a teenager. He loves to help Ed find his treasures in the woods, and he spends his time looking through his telescope at the unhappy princess across the river. Feeling bold one day, Chris sends the princess a message by p-mail (pigeon). To his surprise and delight, Princess Marigold answers him. Back and forth the messages fly, and a friendship is formed.

Can a regular boy who lives with a troll in a cave truly be the best friend of a princess?

Ferris has written a wonderfully wonky fractured fairytale. There is love, there is comedy, there is action and it is all set in an imaginary time and place that could be past or present. I LOVED this book and will be recommending it to my 4th graders who are fans of Ibbotson!

Gender Blender

So, Blake Nelson is one of my favs. He came to do a reading at our high school and he was a great combination of funny, daring and sweet. I have loved many of his books in the past and was very excited to pick up Gender Blender. Cute title, yes?

Tom and Emma were best friends forever. Then as 5th and 6th grade came along, everything changed. Emma is activitied out by her mom and is constantly on the run from piano to gymnastics and back home for school work. Tom has become a bit of a slob, and is definitely not interested in school anymore.

A freak accident on the trampoline after school results in a Freaky Friday style body switch. Emma is wearing Tom's body and vice versa. How will they survive as each other?

Nelson has slyly slipped quite the social commentary into Gender Blender. Tom sees the psychological nastiness girls need to survive, as well as the pressure on them from both sides of the fence regarding relations with boys. Emma notices that nothing is expected of her in school, and that boys have to hold their feelings in and seem to beat each other up as some twisted form of camaraderie.

While terms like "boner" and "perv" along with periods may make some readers uncomfortable, Nelson offers a frank commentary on what it's like to be a middle schooler today.

I can testify to this as I sit in the library in my invisible adultness and hear the conversations of 7th and 8th grade boys every morning! Personally I can think of nothing more horrifying than having to switch bodies with the opposite sex at age 12. While I didn't love this book, I do think it contains some gems that kids will want to think about!

meme book questions

So over at

Jen Robinson's Book Page

there are some interesting questions to answer!

Name 3 children's books you would like to live in.
1) Penderwicks
2) Desperaux
3) Star of Kazaan

Name 3 schools in children's books that you would like to attend.
1) HOGWARTS
2) Spence (A Great and Terrible Beauty)
3) Culver Creek Boarding School (soley for the philosophy teacher - Looking for Alaska)

Name 3 books you like that you would NOT want to live in.
1) Uglies trilogy, by Westerfeld
2) Coraline
3) Downsiders

Name 3 schools you would NOT want to attend.
1) Crunchem Hall
2) The Princess Academy
3) anywhere that Miss Myrt Arbuckle is teaching!

I know that some of these titles are YA, but hey! That's what I am reading these days.

What are YOUR answers?

Princess Academy

Miri is one of the Mount Eskel folk who live high up and far removed from the rest of the world. Her people work in the quarry from dawn til dusk mining the precious linder stone. It is a task that has been theirs for generations. Men and women and children work side by side by side, coaxing the stone from the earth. Miri is the exception. In a village filled with large and strong people, she is small and frail. All her friends work in the quarry, speaking to each other through the magical quarry speak and Miri must tend the goats and keep the house because her father won't let her work beside him. There is nothing in the world that Miri wants more than to work in the quarry.

Miri's life is about to change, as are the lives of many of the village girls. The priests of the king have divined that the future bride of the prince is to be from Mount Eskel! These are girls that sleep with their goats and work in the quarry...they need to be groomed. They are all sent down the mountain to the Princess Academy to be taught by lowlander Olana. Soon a competition is in the works with the girls vying not only for the princes hand, but for the title of "Academy Princess". Eventhough Miri is only 14 years old, she finds herself rising quickly above the older girls in terms of reading and history, poise and conversation. Does she really want to leave her family and live in the lowlands? Would she like to marry an unknown prince, when the only boy she ever thinks about is her friend Peder?

Throw in some twists of magical telepathy and raiding bandits, and Shannon Hale has penned quite the story. I have to admit, this story started off slowly for me, but by mid-book I was completely hooked! This is another middle grade fiction title that I will be buying and saving for my daughters!

Jumping the Scratch

Jamie Reardon longs for the "normal as cornflakes" existence that he used to have in Battle Creek Michigan. The time before his dad left. Before Aunt Sapphy's accident. Before Mister died. Before moving to Wondrous Acres Trailer Park. And definately the time before Old Gray, butterscotch and buttons.

Jamie is trying his best to forget what happend to him in Old Gray's trailer on Christmas Eve. He is shocked when fellow classmate and trailer park resident Audrey Krouch figures out that he is scared of the driveway...scared of walking by Old Gray's trailer. Audrey claims to have ESP, and is willing to help Jamie try to forget.

Sarah Weeks has written another story filled with quirky characters and an offbeat setting about an especially serious topic. Again, this title reads deceptively young. Many of our 4th graders would be excited to pick it up, but would not be ready to deal with the themes.

I have to say that this book hooked me from the very first paragraph. I will include it when I get my hands back on the book!

The Rules of Survival, by Nancy Wherlin

Matt and Callie sneak out of the house one hot summer night in order to enjoy the air conditioning of the supermarket and get a couple popsicles. Little sister Emmy is already asleep and their mom is out on a date. Her dates can last anywhere from a few hours to a few days, so Matt thinks it'll be ok. Standing in line to pay Matt and Callie witness a scene that is not unfamiliar to them. A dad is berating his kid at the top of his lungs. Matt and Callie are frozen on the spot and are amazed when a fellow customer intervenes. After the altercation is over, the man and his date leave. All Matt knows is that the man's name is Murdoch. And Matt knows he needs to find him. Southie isn't that big after all.

If Murdoch helped some random kid, surely he will help Matt and his sisters. Won't he?

In a series of events that should be unbelievable, a year later Murdoch becomes Matt's mom's boyfriend. At first everything is great. The kids are invited on virtually all the dates, their mom is in a good mood, and life seems to be changing. But then mom's true colours come through. Murdoch leaves. And things get much worse.

This novel started off hammering me over the head with abuse, but as Wherlin went on I really found myself wanting to know what happened. Matt's character, and those of his sisters really came to life for me. His mother is absolutely despicable, and as a mother she made me sad and mad at the same time.

This would be a good read for fans of E.R. Frank and even Adam Rapp (22 Snowfish).

Inexcusable

Talk about a feeling shift from the last read!

Keir is a good guy. He does the right thing. People like him and he likes that people like him. He has two older sisters who know that he is a good guy, and he has a dad who knows that he is a good guy. So why is Gigi Boudakian screaming at him? He's known her since kindergarten, for God's sake. He loves her and there's no way that he could hurt her. There's certainly no way that he could rape her! He's not some random pervert - he's practically her best friend.

Layer by layer the reader gets to see Keir. Or at least see Keir as Keir sees Keir. He does things to the letter of the law. It is all black and white to him.

Lynch has brilliantly written this character so that he sees himself virtually in the third person. The reader doesn't initially see the drinking and drug use and hazing. The reader doesn't question why his sisters do not return home often. The close relationship between father and son doesn't seem so particularly disfunctional. At first.

I think this is Lynch's best work since the Blue Eyed Son trilogy way back when I first became a YA librarian. I hate Keir for what he does and who he is, but the s-o-b has me feeling sorry for him. Amazing!

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

There has been quite a bit of chatter about this title, and I happily picked it up from work when I went in for a staff meeting the other day. I am glad I did. I will be purchasing it to save as a read aloud for my daughter when she gets a bit older.

Edward is a china rabbit who is used to the finer things in life. His owner Abilene loves him very much, dresses him in the finest silks, and keeps him with her whenever she is not in school. Edward is a bit stuffy, and is not too interested in anything. Of course, this would be hard for anyone to figure out, since he is inanimate, but Abilene's grandmother knows. She is disappointed in Edward and lets him know as much.

Soon Abilene and her family are off on a voyage on the Queen Mary. Edward comes along, but due to unfortunate circumstances, he finds himself at the bottom of the sea. What follows is a miraculous journey, indeed.

Charming and begging to be read aloud, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is sure to become a classic title. And for those who think that the story is unbelievable...hey...it's fiction and fairytale like fiction at that! Just enjoy it!

The Wright 3

I eagerly snatched this off the shelf of my bookstore while searching for Specials. I was excited because I truly enjoyed Chasing Vermeer, and the little smartypants kids at my school loved it also.

I wish I could love the sequel too.

It is the end of the same school year where Chasing Vermeer left off. Tommy is now back in Hyde Park and part of the same class with Calder and Petra. Ms. Hussey lets her class know about the pending destruction of Frank Lloyd Wright's Hobie House. And in typical progressive school fashion, they abandon the rest of the year's studies and concentrate on trying to save Hobie House.

I have two problems with this book. The first is that this time, the pentominoes and math aspect of the book seem to be hammered over the reader's head. The second is that unlike the first book, this one didn't get exciting for me until page 277 ( I know because I marked it!).

The one aspect I really enjoyed was the Fibonacci numbers. This is strictly personal because I had a friend named Greg (no longer with us anymore) who was an artist and he was obsessed with Fibonacci numbers and was busily incorporating them into his art when he died. I do think that some kids may really get into this idea if they haven't heard it before.

I think that the Wright 3 is definately worth reading, but if you loved Chasing Vermeer don't expect the same excitement.

Specials!!!!

Woohoo!

First there are some people I need to thank. Cindy for calling Jen and telling her it was on the shelf at B&N (The girlie at the B&N where I live said it would be shelved the 9th!!!!) So thanks Cindy and thanks Jen. And also thanks to my little one for falling asleep at 6:30 last night, and my husband for watching the baby so that I had a chance to read this cover to cover sans interruption!! Yay!

Tally Youngblood is now a Special. And a Special Special at that. She is part of Dr. Cable's elite cutter unit, designed specifically to take down the New Smoke. Shay is there too, of course, as are most of the Crims that Tally ran with when she was a bubblehead. Being a cutter has Tally's senses wired so tightly she notices everything. Even Pretties seem random now with their smells and their watery eyes.

After Shay and Tally cause a major disaster getting the tools they need to free Tally's love Zane from New Pretty Town, everyone is on the run again. Shay and Tally can't see eye to eye because Tally again is stirring up trouble. When she was a Pretty she wasn't feeling as bubbly as the rest, and now that she is a Special, she can't stay icy...even when she does resort to cutting.

Tally is soon on her own following Zane and his crew, hoping that Dr.Cable will catch him and make him Special as well. Then they can finally be together. But with a war brewing between New Pretty Town and the New Smoke, things are sure to get interesting.

I read around the blogworld that some folks didn't find this installment as good as Uglies or Pretties. I disagree. I think the ending was superb...even if it wasn't the one that I wanted to see. (I guess I had my only little crush on our friend Zane.)

I am pleased, pleased, pleased. I can't wait to see what my friend Josh thinks. He is a recent reader of YA lit, and a huge Westerfeld fan.

Three Cups of Tea

Get ready to break out your cheque book.

I read about this title in Outside magazine, and was instantly intrigued. In 1993 Greg Mortenson was part of a climbing group scaling K2 when circumstances led to the abandonment of the expedition. Between the altitude and the disappointment he felt, Mortenson was not on point when he was descending, and wound up lost and alone in the cold without his gear. After a freezing night Mortenson reunited with his Balti porter Mouzafer Ali. Mortenson lost his way again, took the "wrong" fork in the road, and ended up exhausted not in Askole where he needed to be, but in the small mountain village of Korphe. This is where Mortenson met Haji Ali - and event that would be life altering in every way.

While Mortenson was recuperating, he explored the area with Haji Ali. One day he asked where the Korphe school was. Haji Ali took him up the hill where they found 78 boys and 4 girls sitting outside on the frozen ground, trying to learn their lessons without a teacher. Mortenson was shocked and made a promise. He promised to bring a school to Korphe.

The reader needs to realize that Mortenson was in no way equipped to make such a promise. In the States he had a climber's lifestyle. Working just enough shifts as an emergency room nurse to fund his climbing habit.

When he got home he started renting time on a type-writer to send pleas for donations to the likely suspects...Oprah, Bernard Shaw, Susan Sarandon. He had found out while he was in Pakistan that he needed $12000 US dollars to fund a school. Nobody responded. After some time Mortenson was told to contact Jean Hoerni the famous physicist who was also a climber. He alone funded Mortenson's first school.

What follows is a sometimes heartbreaking journey into Pakistani and Afghan culture, politics and war. In the end Mortenson has built (with help) the CAI or Central Asia Institute. This agency built many schools and vocational centers, and has provided all types of aid to those in need. Mortenson is still getting his hands dirty with the work. His belief is that terrorism will never be defeated simply by killing Osama or Sadam. Education is the key. The millions of dollars coming into these countries from Saudi Arabia to fund extremist schools (madrassas), needs to be combated with a non-extreme educational choice. It's an idea that makes sense.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up this book. I didn't know if I was going to learn more about climbing, or humanitarianism. I am happy to have learned quite a bit about Pakistan and its history and culture. About the Glacier wars. About the Taliban. About American's unfulfilled promises to rebuild after war. And about places that I had never heard of before like Waziristan. It is humbling to read about people like Mortenson.

One person really can make a difference.

Move Over Neil Gaiman....

....Brian K. Vaughan is in the house. I have to say, I think he is my new favourite man of the graphic novel. Sandman will always have a place near and dear to my heart. I started reading it with Number 1 when I was 18, and remember making the trip to the comic book store with my friend Jeff with baited breath each month.
(A side trip to Poptones happened too, but you had to be from around Niagara to have a clue as to what that entailed!)

I have grown impatient with comics in my old age, and tend to wait until a whole story arc is combined in a grapic novel before I read it.

Jen had told me about Y The Last Man a couple of years ago, and I remember thinking, "What a great idea for a story", but I never got around to reading it. Thanks to NYPL for carrying graphic novels. I stuck a hold on it, and the rest is history!

Yorik is somehow the only male that has survived a sudden plague. All of the men in the world suddenly fall dead in a wash of blood. When it all hits the fan all that Yorik wants to do is somehow find his way to Australia and to the girlfriend he has just proposed to over the phone! The white house has other ideas. Agent 355 is assigned to protect Yorik and make sure that he is able to find a famous genetics doctor who may be able to explain all of this. Women have interestingly divided themselves into clannish groups (wives of republicans, "amazons" etc) Flashes to happenings all over the world give the reader an inkling of what this story will evolve into. All of the characters are fresh, and Vaughan leaves you wanting more.

Unmanned takes the first 5 issues of this story, and now I am planning to move on to all of the collections.

Spiral Bound

I picked up this little gem at the Comicon as well. I was looking for some graphic novels to put on the Summer Reading List for my school. That is on hold, but is a whole 'nother story worthy of its own blog.

Sprial Bound by Aaron Renier is a sweet little black and white graphic novel for the younger set. The characters are all animals who are hanging out together in the summer. It is a top secret summer for most of them. Turnip and Stucky are in art camp together. Ana and Em are secretly working on the underground newspaper. And everyone is trying to avoid the Pond Monster.

Easily read by adults on two levels and by kids on one. For the kids, a fun adventure with secrets, monsters and friendships. And for older or more sophisticated readers, the age old story of "the man". What kinds of stories are made up in order to control society? Who holds the power in a town? Is every piece of information just a "spin"?

With back cover endorsements from Lemony Snicket, Craig Thompson and Dav Pilkey, who can resist? A fun and clean read for 4th grade and up!

I love Top Shelf Productions!

Becoming Naomi Leon

Again...a deceptively young cover.

Naomi and brother Owen have been living with their grandmother in her Airstream for just about as long as they can remember. Grandma's place is comforting and the routines are familiar. Grandma's hair is up in curlers and she is waiting for neighbour Fabiola to come over to watch Wheel of Fortune, when there is a knock at the door.

Naomi and Owen's mother is back in town.

Skyla ( formerly Terri Lynn) is back from the halfway house, back with a boyfriend, and back with a big idea about Naomi.

Naomi is torn and Owen is smitten. Naomi knows how hard her grandma has worked raising her and she has some vague recollections of life with her mom that aren't so sweet. But when Skyla does Naomi's hair, and buys her new and trendy clothes, it's hard not to forgive. Owen, who is disfigured, doesn't see the writing on the wall that Skyla is only interested in Naomi in her future. Can this family sort itself out?

Set both in Oklahoma and Mexico, readers are treated to detailed descriptions of people and places. Naomi finds her place in this world during her trip to Mexico, and becomes a much stronger girl than she ever could have been if Skyla hadn't appeared at the Airstream door.

This read a bit like Creech to me, and fans of hers as well as fans of Ryan's Esperanza Rising will not be disappointed.

I, Coriander

This is a title that I picked up last year at BookExpo, and have been meaning to read for quite some time. Youngish looking cover, but not so young inside!

Coriander loves her life. Her room is painted with beautiful fairy stories, her mother is lovely, and her father is a wealthy merchant who is teaching her to read and write. One day a beautiful pair of silver shoes arrives at her home with the letter "C" etched onto the sole. Surely they are for her! Coriander is bewildered when her mother puts them away stating that they are not meant for her. Coriander feels her heart pulling her to those shoes, and she actually hears the shoes calling to her! She overcomes her greatest fear to get to them. She actually puts her hand in the mouth of the stuffed alligator that her father keeps in his study to get to the key to his bureau. Coriander knew the shoes were for her...they are a perfect fit! She quickly tries to take them off before her parents can see, and to her dismay they are stuck to her feet.

Eventually Coriander is able to remove the shoes, but the spell they cast flies far. Before she knows it, her mother is dead, her father is enveloped in grief, and her world is soon to be changed forever. Cromwell is now ruling England, and her father ( a known royalist) is convinced to marry a Puritan in order to keep his land. Maud Leggs is everything that Coriander's beautiful mother wasn't. She is fat, homely, has blackend teeth and finds the devil in every corner. She soon convinces Coriander's father to let a preacher (the Crooked Man) move in. While Coriander's father is away on business, the Crooked Man introduces "Ann" (Coriander is a vain name) to the "hand of wrath" for every "infraction".

This book had me staying up to the wee hours of the morning to learn of Coriander's fate. Coriander is a strong character, and her friends are equally as interesting. Parallel worlds, fairies, espionage and adventure all make I, Coriander a compelling, fast paced fantastical read for the 6th grade and up set!

The Stupidest Angel

This is not the type of book that I usually would read, (endorsed by Playboy on the back) but a friend of mine recommended it so I thought I would give it a go. Then I put it down, and he told me I had to try again.

I now know that I am a book snob. High brow friends of mine are probably snorting Cabernet out of their noses, so let me explain. Not high brow in the capital "L" Literature kind of way. Rather, I like what I like, and cliches drive me CRAZY!

Stupidest Angel is full of a crazy set of characters including Lena and ex Dale, who at the beginning of the book get into a very public argument over Christmas donations while Lena is acting as a Salvation Army Santa. Dale is an s-o-b developer who is not loved by the rest of the townsfolk. There is Theo, the ex-pothead constable. His wife, Molly Michon, the former b-movie star, who has recently gone off her meds. Tucker Case...Lena's new love interest and DEA pilot. Crazy Mavis - the bar owner. An angel, who is absolutely clueless. And my favourite...Josh - the kid who witnesses Santa's murder.

Confused?

You shouldn't be.

This is a fast read, that feels more like a series of vignettes. The reader knows exactly where the story is going (right down to the Dawn of the Dead brains-crazed zombies). It is what it is, and for fans I am sure it is great. It just didn't work for me. (Except for Josh continually wanting to decapitate Tucker...that was fun!)

Plucker

This was another purchase from the Comicon in NYC. My friend Karyn and I were walking along, I stopped to get Tricked signed, when Karyn sidled up to me and asked, "Have you ever heard of an artist named Brom?" Suprisingly I hadn't. The cover of Plucker was GORgeous. A quick scan and I knew that I needed to own this book.

It's 1942 and Thomas' father is off on a ship and his mother is working non-stop. He only has his housekeeper Mabelle and his toys for company. Imagine his joy when his father comes home for a surprise visit. His spirits quickly plummet when he realizes that his father is only home for a few hours. His father, as always, has brought him something...this time from Africa. Unlike the nutcracker and toy soldiers of the past, Thomas' father pulls out a very scary mask. "A spirit mask", he says. Thomas doesn't want this thing hung above his bed, but his father puts it there anyway. Soon after, the mask falls and breaks open. And then all hell breaks loose.

What you may not know is that toys are filled with gusto (the energy and love that kids put into a toy when they play). Jack (of in-the-box fame) had recently been relegated to the Underbed. He was there when the mask crashed down, smelled that evil smell, and saw the shape of the Plucker scuttle into the dark. Foulthings soon came feeding on the toys...their eyes and gusto. Jack too is taken.

With Mabelle's help (and a touch of the Dark Arts) Jack is revived. His mission is to destroy the Plucker and save Thomas.

This is a creepy book. The art is sumptuous, dark, and necessary to the story's appeal. I forgave the choppy dialogue simply because of Jack's beauty. There are no happy endings here.

Definately for a HS and older audience.

If I had a coffee table, this would be on it.

Fans of Abarat should approve.