Rutabaga's Reads 2024: Part 7

Hello, fellow readers! In this post, you will find my second middle-grade compilation post. It’s a variety of … fantasy. All right, so all three fall within the same genre, but they each offer something different. There’s a Nigh that’s like NYC, but also not really. There’s a genius-recluse with a Willy Wonka-esque imagination. And there’s a house with a girl in the wallpaper.

The Golden Imaginarium (Oct. 10, 2023) by Ellen Potter.

<This is a sequel novel.>

<No spoilers outside of what may be on the dust jacket.>

Weeks have gone by since Nell Batista and the other members of the Last Chance Club, Crud Butterbank and Annika Rapp, were in the Nigh. Mr. Boot continues to act as though the lot are hopeless, though Vanessa Habscomb is helpful. A visitor clearly not of the Hither shows up – he refers to a hamster as a “little animal thingy” – and informs the three that they’re being fast-tracked to become Watchers, skipping right over the Level Cs and going straight to the Initiation Trial. This is alarming, as they have neither the experience nor the practice. They will be armed with their very own briefcase of Fates, creatures from the Nigh. Nell’s case is disappointingly small and contains only two. Neither seems particularly useful. The more useful one is the Willaweeper called Winston, which Vanessa gave her, and is now hiding in her braids. Nell’s first trial is a success, as she disrupts a Flooper: “an unexpected choice that will alter important events in the future.” Tom comes to find her and brings her back to the Nigh, where Nell encounters Katerina, Abiba and Samuel. They are ghosts ... but they weren’t ghosts when Tom brought them from the Hither to the Nigh. Nell also meets Lysander, an Imp who wants nothing more than a home and a family (even if he won’t readily admit it). They’ll see Finfolk (mermaids), who likewise despise Magicians, and spot a Grubble (a Sasquatch). Folk don’t like the latter because they dig up gardens and smell like garbage (they’re pests). Now more than ever, Nell needs to excel at chopsticks-assisting spell work. Rumor has it that the small and wicked Minister is coming after them. If Nell fails any of her trials, the Umglick Spell will be performed, and she’ll lose all memories of magic, the Nigh and the brother she’s so desperate to return to the Hither.

The middle-school protagonists are easy to root for against the evil, children-stealing Magicians in this fast-moving fantasy adventure. There is comic relief, including a budding Girl-Imp relationship that teeters on comically romantic in its awkwardness. The youth all have varied backgrounds, but most characters appear to cue Caucasian. Nell, Crud and Annika have developed a tight-knit bond through the Last Chance Club, and the creature cast is ample and contains all manner of docile-to-vicious creatures. The ending felt rushed, but is a happy one, so I don’t know if this ends at a duology or if the saga will continue. At any rate, this is a duo that has entertained me, and I’d happily read more stories. Remember that the Nigh is just like home, right up until it isn’t. And if you hear a Wickle-wickle-feee! at your ear, know that danger is way too near!

            Note: In this story, dogges is said to be pronounced as DOWGS, but, if you’ve read my post for the first novel, you’ll notice it’s pronounced differently. I don’t know if it’s an oversight or if the author purposely changed it, but I’m noting it as-is for its respective book.

            Book One: Hither & Nigh

Not Quite a Ghost (Jan. 16, 2024) by Anne Ursu.

<This is a standalone novel.>

The house on 1664 Katydid Street sat silent and alone for a long time, but now Violet Hart’s family has moved into the house in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Change is everywhere for Violet. There’s the big move, for their old home became too small for their family of five (mom, stepdad, older sister Mia and younger half-brother Owen). Violet’s entered middle school, and she isn’t on the same team as her best friends, Paige and Ally. With the start of middle school, Paige now wants their pod to become a squad with Quinn and Kennedy. Okay. Fine. Change is healthy, right? She manages to make a new friend named Will. She meets him in the school’s library. Healthy! But what about this attic bedroom that Mia didn’t want, despite it being the bigger room? The walls are a drab yellow, “somewhere between mustard and vomit,” the floor looks like it’s “been attacked by several angry bears,” it smells like “a malodorous moat” and has walls covered in a chaos of vines, leaves and flowers that look like eyes. Is the wallpaper watching her? It’s creepy. Lately, she’s spending too much time in her creepy bedroom when she falls mysteriously ill. No one can pinpoint her invisible illness. Is she making herself sick? And is that ... an outline of a girl in the wallpaper?

            It’s middle school drama meets a medical mystery and the paranormal in this page-turning tale highlighting changing friendships, balancing schoolwork and navigating an invisible illness amidst being haunted. This middle-grade novel is insightful, sometimes intense and creepy in a way that gives one not-too-scary shivers down the back. It’s a story featuring a blended family and diversity of race and sexual orientation. Despite the twisty paranormal element, there is realism to the story, not only contending with the mayhem of middle school or COVID, but being invisibly sick. The story explores what it’s like to be sick in a way no one seems to understand and is therefore dismissed. It’s effortlessly empathetic yet haunting, vulnerable yet fierce.

            P.S. At least Violet finally got a cat! (Her name is Trixie.)

The (Super Secret) Octagon Valley Society (Sept. 5, 2023) by Melissa de la Cruz.

<This is the first novel in a series.>

Only eight answered the 108th question on the Octagon Valley Assessment for the Extra-Ordinary (OVAEO) and so only eight were invited to the Octagon Valley Institute. It’s an exclusive weekend with the mysterious, high-tech genius-recluse Onasander Octagon. 11-year-old Edwin Edgefield, a boy who’s small for his age and young for his grade, hopes to meet intelligent kids like him who’ll also accept him for all of his quirks and his eidetic memory. But the other students are so different that it makes them wonder if they’re all in the right place. There’s amateur rapper Eun-Kyung “Li’l Kimmy” Kim, skateboarding surfer Dilip Aggarwal, 12-year-old violin/conductor prodigy Julie Carter, mean girl Maureen Pearson, teacher’s pet Anabelle “Ting-Ting” Costanza, gamer fanatic Anton Chesky and spoiled rich boy Harold Postman Jr. VIII. How did Harold even get invited? (It’s a legitimate question, as Onasander wonders, too.) Their introduction to the Institute isn’t what they expected. Instead of a fulfilling weekend of lectures and rumored new tech, they’re blindfolded and thrown into a labyrinthine scavenger hunt. From an escape-room challenge to attacking piranhas to abductor ninjas, the weekend is getting weirder by the moment. They’ll have to utilize their inner weird and work together to discover the true secret of the Institute. It’s part of what makes them EXTRAordinary!

            This opener in the Octagon Valley series is a fast-paced, page-turning, action-adventure that’s part mystery and part dangerous obstacle challenge with humor, mischief and, it turns out, a healthy dose of scheming. The cast is ethnically diverse: Edwin is Black, Li’l Kimmy is Korean, Dilip is Indian and Ting-Ting is Filipino. There is representation to be found in characters who struggle with things like anxiety. A story with emotional intelligence, a Willy Wonka-esque imagination and high entertainment value, it will appeal to a wide range of readers. A few words to the wise: Don’t get YAK-ed.