"Haunted Holiday" by Kiersten White

Haunted Holiday (Jan. 23, 2024) by Kiersten White.

<This is the final novel in a pentalogy.>

<Spoilers included if you haven’t read the previous stories.>

The Sinister-Winterbottom twins are trapped in Aunt Saffronia’s spectral house, and Theo and Alexander must figure out how to escape so they can stop Essa and her mean-mustachioed henchman Edgaren’t (a.k.a. Van Helsing), save Wil + their friends and find their parents. Alexander decides to trust his gut and follow clues, which lead them to Siren’s Song Seaside Amusement Park. They find Marina Siren, but she isn’t the trusted adult they were hoping for. They locate their friends, but can’t get them out right away, discovering them in a maze of mirrors, though Wil isn’t amongst them, and neither is Mr. Frank. They are underwhelmed by the speed of a railroad velocipede; Alexander’s grateful it isn’t a velociraptor centipede (that’s fair, for that’d be horrifying to behold). They are appalled when Edgaren’t tries to lure them with churros, for nefarious churros should never be a thing. They are impressed by the giant battle robot, but are then disappointed when it doesn’t have an oven to serve warm chocolate chip cookies. More secrets will come to light, including who Essa is (she’s not a ghost), and mysteries will be solved. After all that, things might finally return to normal, or at least as normal as things can be since discovering you’ve been hanging out with a ghost aunt. And they’re still pretty sure Lucy’s a vampire.

        It’s a standing ovation for the final novel in the Sinister Summer series. If ever she wrote a spinoff series (perhaps beginning with LARPing at Camp [No Longer] Creepy), I’d be all for it before Alexander could shout, “Toilet alligator!” It’s a middle-grade gothic caper delight, brilliant in its comic writing and momentum-filled adventure. With this series, readers find that, behind every potential villain, is a person needing connection. To family and to friends. There’s also a little food for thought: What if sirens aren’t luring sailors to their deaths with their songs to be evil, but are trying to keep them away from hunting their innocent kraken bestie, who’s “just large and very tentacled?”
        Book 1: Wretched Waterpark
        Book 2: Vampiric Vacation
        Book 3: Camp Creepy
        Book 4: Menacing Manor

"Menacing Manor" by Kiersten White

Menacing Manor (May 2, 2023) by Kiersten White.

*This is the fourth novel in a series.*

*Casual spoilers for those who haven’t read the previous books.*

Science camp is so cool. At Stein Manor Science Camp, the Sinister-Winterbottoms (twins Alexander and Theo and older sister Wil) can build their own volcanoes, shatter objects as part of the camp’s “mood and aggression unit” or bake and experiment with food in the kitchen. But they aren’t there to have fun. Together with Edgar Widow (from Fathoms of Fun), Mina and Lucy Blood (from the Sanguine Spa), Quincy Graves from Texas and Henry Hyde (from Camp Creek), they are determined to be one step ahead of Edgaren’t. They won’t trust any adult in charge, as that hasn’t worked out for them previously, and it’s easy enough with the enormous, unfriendly, intimidating Mr. Frank, who has a head that looks “oddly flattened, like it was straight across instead of domed.” It’s easy to trust friendly Essa, who’s a teen like Wil, Edgar and Mina. The group is looking for clues about where their parents might be, while expecting that Edgaren’t will be coming for them and the books they possess (but no key). There are seven books in all, and each contains a name: Sinister, Widow, Blood, Graves, Hyde, Stein and Siren. They’re at the science camp, but where is Mr. V. Stein? The mystery continues for the Sinister-Winterbottoms and their friends (to be honest, Henry’s only sort of their friend, as he isn’t very friendly) in this electrifying quest.

            The penultimate adventure in the Sinister Summer series is a magnificent menace with fast pacing, a mysterious plot involving “Warning! Do not enter! Danger!” sea caves and witty dialogue. Traipsing along with the growing group is so much fun, even when they’re navigating tricky situations, working through self-doubts or worrying about improbable, rogue toilet alligators. There’s nothing scary or remotely menacing about this tale. It’s zany and dynamic and reminds us not to judge others, especially not by their outward appearances, which can be deceiving. There are allusions to Frankenstein, as readers will catch from the cover page alone. White has once again given readers a story with moxie. It’s easily a 5/5 for me.

            Book 1: Wretched Waterpark

            Book 2: Vampiric Vacation

            Book 3: Camp Creepy

"Camp Creepy" by Kiersten White

Camp Creepy (Jan. 3, 2023) by Kiersten White.

*This is the third novel in a series.*

From the Sanguine Spa, the Sinister-Winterbottoms and their friend from Fathoms of Fun, Edgar, find themselves at Camp Creek, a mysterious summer camp where everything is fun and good and normal, normal, normal! There’s a zip line, a climbing wall and archery! There are rope swings and canoeing, boondoggle-making and buffet-style eating! Swimming in the lake and so many kinds of cereal, one could really go wild and mix them in the same bowl! Where the counselors are enthusiastic and tie-dyed everything is the theme and everything is an exclamation! Normal! Except it’s not, especially when Theo witnesses Alexander rope-swing himself into the lake. From worrying about making a fool of himself by rope-swinging wrong to brain-eating amoeba getting to him if he gets lake water up his nose, that is not Alexander’s normal. He even tells Theo it’s okay to call him Alex, something that’s not okay. And Wil! Wil hasn’t just become a camp counselor in glaring tie-dye, but she’s given up Rodrigo, her most prized ... phone! She should be going through some horrible withdrawal but is as smiley and exuberant as every other tie-dyed counselor. The counselors and campers are braindyed, all but Theo and a sulking boy named Henry Hyde. She must un-braindye Alexander, Wil, Edgar and even Quincy, former lasso-wielding friend who might still come through as a friend once things are able to be talked out. Without so many exclamation points!

            To be fair, I tend to love everything I read by Kiersten White, but I honestly love the books in her Sinister Summer series the most! Far from scary (think more like the hijinks of Scooby-Doo), her stories read at a fast clip and they are so genius that I’m using an excessive amount of exclamations, even in my head as I type this! I can’t stop! Only kidding. I totally can. The adventures of the Sinister-Winterbottoms are slightly outrageous, but completely clean and fun. White’s writing is clever and is easy to follow, even as characters from the previous books converge and new characters are added. “Camp Creepy” is another satisfyingly sinister, wonderfully weird, middle-grade installment that contains positive messages about the acceptance of oneself and others just the way they are, quirks and anxieties and all.

            Book 1: Wretched Waterpark

            Book 2: Vampiric Vacation

"Vampiric Vacation" by Kiersten White

Vampiric Vacation (Sept. 27, 2022) by Kiersten White.

*This is the second novel in a series.*

The Sinister-Winterbottom children have traded in Fathoms of Fun for the Sanguine Spa in the Little Transylvania Mountains. Aunt Saffronia drops them off with vague instructions to “look closer” and “find what was lost.” After 16-year-old Wil almost walks herself off a cliff while staring intently at Rodrigo, her phone, the youth encounter Mina, who has unexpected outbursts directed at the ceiling. There’s also a disembodied voice and dreams of Lucy, Mina’s mysterious younger sister, who’s just gone. Or is she? Sanguine Spa’s owner is known as the Count, a cold, intimidating man with red, red lips, and he’s in partnership with a child called Quincy, who’s excellent at lassoing, and which Theo believes she must learn how to do (along with rappelling and lock-picking, because new life skills). The Count and Quincy separate the kids from the adults and send them on a scavenger hunt, giving Theo and Alexander good opportunity to snoop around. The Sanguine Spa is an eerie place with the Count, Mina’s odd outbursts, suspiciously red drinks for the adults, locked doors and vampire bats. What’s really going on, and who is Van H?

            The second gothic, spooky-but-not-really summer adventure in the Sinister Summer series is another fast-moving middle-grade novel of flippancy and fun. There are spa guests laid out like corpses, a cave full of bats (and their guano, “because bat poop was so fancy it even had its own name”) and a villainous appearance by someone the Sinister-Winterbottoms encountered at the water park. Fully immersed readers will want to have read the first in the series to connect clues in this clever and entertaining story with quirky characters. This eerie escapade is delightfully devious, but also cheekily charming. It is another wonderfully weird story from White. Next stop: summer camp in a “mountainous lake region.” (There is a book in Sanguine Spa’s library tiled A History of Summer Camps and the Unexplained Disappearances of Various Campers in the Mountainous Lake Regions. Coincidence?)

            Book 1: Wretched Waterpark

Rutabaga's Reads 2022: Part 7

I have been on a middle-grade reading kick lately, and it’s not only due to my interest in the mythology stories in the Rick Riordan Presents imprint (though that does amount to a fair percentage). In this compilation, one is an author whose many novels (mostly YA) I’ve read and have met in-person twice, one author is new to me and one is semi familiar with it being the second story in a series. Surprisingly, none of the three are Rick Riordan Presents stories.

The Marvellers (May 3, 2022) by Dhonielle Clayton.

*This is the first book in a series.*

Welcome, all Marvellers, to the Arcanum Training Institute for Marvelous & Uncanny Endeavors. 11-year-old Ella Durand is full of magic (though her mom doesn’t like that word). She is a Conjuror, and this is significant in a world of Conjurors, Marvellers and Fewels (non-gifted folk), for Marvellers don’t trust Conjuror magic. Ella is the first Conjuror to attend the Arcanum Training Institute up in the sky. She’s thrilled and has support there in her Aunt Sera Baptiste  – who’s teaching Conjure Arts for the first time – and Masterji Mitha Thakur, her elixirs teacher and mentor. She also finds friends in Jason Eugene, who’s great at communicating with other creatures, and Brigit Ebsen, her roommate who hates the school. Ella plans to be the best student and wants everyone to like her and conjure, but harassing starposts (like air mail, but cooler, and one needs a special starpost box) indicate that not all are open-minded. When the Ace of Anarchy, Gia Trivelino, escapes the Cards of Deadly Fate (a maximum high-security prison located in the Underworld)(Ella’s dad, His Excellency Sebastien Durand, is the Grand High Walker of the Underworld), Conjurors are blamed. Tensions are growing, Ella’s enrollment at the Arcanum is at risk, and Masterji Thakur mysteriously disappears. With the help of her friends, can Ella clear her name and track down her mentor before even more chaos ensues?

            Before this, I’d never read a story by Clayton, and I am in awe of this magical, marvelous, fantastical fantasy adventure. The creativity and imagination are astounding. This middle-grade novel is an exemplary example of diversity of cultures, skin colors, gender identities, etc. The tale is busy in the best way with its grand world-building, stellar cast, clever plot and vivid creatures/companions (starfolk have “kitten-like ears,  tiny pairs of spectacles, and furry skin the color of night” and Ella’s mom’s conjure companion, an alligator called Gumbo, means no harm; he’s “a big kitten”). There’s so much inclusivity, though the story isn’t without its micro-aggressions, discrimination, stereotyping and privilege. It isn’t all stellacity spheres and malyysvit (pronounced molly-sveet; they are world-eggs and each hatches a mini universe) and food carts with menu items like dancing dumplings and jumping rice, but it is full of charm and love and, well, marvels. This is a school I’d happily be a student at or, considering my age, a teacher. For anyone looking for their next magic school book, look no further than “The Marvellers!” All the light to you and yours! Good marvelling!

            Favorite line: “We’re all one awful day away from becoming the world’s worst nightmare.” --Gia to a character, moments before stealing the character’s marvel (p. 252)

            The five Paragons of Marvelling: Sound, Spirit, Taste, Touch and Vision

            The three Marvellian cities: Astradam, Betelmore, and Celestian City

Wretched Waterpark (June 7, 2022) by Kiersten White.

*This is the first book in a series.*

There’s something sinister going on, and it isn’t only because they’re Sinister on their mom’s side of the family. Together with their 16-year-old sister, Wilhelmina (Wil), 12-year-old twins Theodora (Theo) and Alexander (never Alex) Sinister-Winterbottom have been unexpectedly sent to live with their Aunt Saffronia Sinister “who, by all appearances, had never encountered an actual human child before” for the summer. Aunt Saffronia drops them off at Fathoms of Fun Waterpark, an unusually and remarkably grim place that has no churros on the menu of the water park’s one restaurant and features such delightful attraction names like the Cold, Unknowable Sea (a wave pool) and The River Styx (a lazy river). It’s owned by the dour Mrs. Widow in a “bruise-colored dress” and Mr. Widow, though the latter is missing and is in the process of being declared dead. Aunt Saffronia tells the youth to “find what was lost,” so the siblings take it upon themselves to find Mr. Widow. They meet an ally in Edgar - the Widows are his aunt and uncle - and Charlotte, who has, like, six identical sisters. There’s also Edgaren’t (clearly not his real name) and Jeremiah (the “turkey-vulture man”) who tells the twins no running, because “that’s how people disappear.” With parasols instead of sunscreen and mausoleums instead of cabanas (a.k.a. a cabasoleum), this strange, Victorian water park is fathoms of fun for all. Well, perhaps all is a bit of an exaggeration ...

            A middle-grade gothic caper, it is not as creepy as the book cover or title imply. It is actually a joy to read for anyone who appreciates droll humor, quirky characters, whip-smart dialogue, a fantastic plot and suspicious summer vacation plans. Far from wretched, this delightfully-detailed tale is oddly charming and wonderfully weird. It showcases the varied relationships amongst siblings. In the case of the Sinister-Winterbottoms, the twins share a close-knit understanding of each other, while Wil is obsessed with Rodrigo - that’s her phone - to the point that Theo or Alexander can say ridiculous things and Wil will be all, “Yeah, whatever” or not acknowledge that either twin spoke at all. I was hooked from the first line, and there isn’t long to wait for the next story in the Sinister Summer series, as it is set to publish the end of September!

            Favorite lines, only because I agree: “In an ideal world, nothing would have raisins, except maybe toddlers who didn’t know that raisins were grapes without souls. Anyone who put raisins into cookies or baked goods was just someone who hated joy.” --Theo Sinister-Winterbottom (pp. 63-64)

Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow (Nov. 13, 2018) by Jessica Townsend.

*This is the second novel in a series.*

Although Morrigan Crow knows she isn’t actually a cursed child, her troubles are far from over. Morrigan is a Wundersmith, and the last known Wundersmith (Ezra Squall) is evil as all get out, so many of those who know of Morrigan’s knack (like a supernatural talent or skill) automatically mark her as evil, deadly and dangerous. Someone not to be trusted. But Morrigan is one of the nine newest members of Wunsoc (Wundrous Society) with her best friend Hawthorne Swift. They help make up Unit 919. Each of the members brings a different knack to the group, like Hawthorne and his dragon-riding, Cadence and her mesmerism and Lambeth and her oracular powers. They’re a motley group, and most seem to fear/abhor her, which is not what she was expecting of her “family.”

            During her year in Nevermoor, Morrigan is already a pro at telling the difference between a Wunimal Major and Wunimal Minor. Wunimals themselves are “sentient, self-aware, intelligent creatures capable of complexities such as language, invention, and artistic expression, just like humans.” Unnimals are not. (Fenestra, if you’re wondering, is neither Wunimal nor unnimal. And don’t ask her about it or she will replace all the feathers in your pillow with hair pulled from every shower drain of the Hotel Deucalion or something equally appalling.) But at Wunsoc’s Proudfoot House, where the others all have amazing schedules, she has one terrible class and, eventually, one class she’s good at. “History of Heinous Wundrous Acts” with Professor Hemingway Q. Onstald, a tortoise-wun, is awful. Onstald detests her from the first day. When she finally receives another class on her schedule, “Decoding Nevermoor: How to Successfully Navigate the Free State’s Most Dangerous and Ridiculous City,” with Henry Mildmay, she is thrilled. Mildmay is young and fun and doesn’t treat her like she’s the very worst. She also learns about Swindleroads, Tricksy Lanes, Shadowstreets and Ghostly Hours. Tricksy Lanes are purely Nevermoorian and they transform in some way, once you’re inside them. For example, the mild ones may give you nothing but an antigravity trick, but there was once one that flipped people inside out … so all of their muscles and organs were on the outside of their bodies. (Fortunately, that Tricksy Lane is gone. Bricked up. For good.) Unfortunately, denizens of both Wunsoc and Nevermoor are going missing, and fingers are pointing to the newest Wundersmith. Somehow, Morrigan’s friends – old and new – are going to need to work together to prove her innocence and save those that are missing.

            Clearly, I’ve found so much to enjoy in this story that my previous two paragraphs are verbose. This is Townsend’s sophomore story in the Nevermoor series, and it is zany and magical. Townsend’s Nevermoor is brilliantly immersive, the fantasy is fantastical, and the adventures never cease. I love that the cast of characters are eccentric, but also loyal and brave, smart and, at times, conflicted. It’s wonderful and grandiose, sometimes dark, but also charming and witty. I would happily visit Nevermoor and stay for an extended time. I’m not certain how I’d get to this place that I’m not supposed to know exists, but I’m using the Brolly Rail as soon as I do.

            Book One: Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow