The Edmond Sun
October 07, 2008 11:39 pm
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‘BILLY HOOTEN: OWL BOY’
BY THOMAS E. SNIEGOSKI
It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No ... it’s Owlboy. Starring Billy Hooten, an average (yet extraordinary) fourth-grade student, the Owlboy series is full of silly adventures, bizarre characters and absurd/gross-out humor that kids will enjoy.
Billy Hooten is a weird kid. He gets bullied a lot, and spends the rest of his time doggedly trying to build a robot. One day, Billy hears a cry for help coming from the cemetery that borders his backyard. Against his better judgment, he runs toward it.
And after that, everything changes for Billy Hooten. Because Billy, you see, is Owlboy. A quick thinking, goggle-and-feather-wearing superhero who protects the bizarre and monstrous citizens of Monstros City, a city that exists under Billy’s hometown of Bradbury, Mass. But is Billy truly worthy of the moniker Owlboy?
‘OWLBOY: THE GIRL WITH THE DESTRUCTO TOUCH’
BY THOMAS E. SNIEGOSKI
On one particularly mind-numbing day, Billy has extra homework, a spelling test to study for, his chores around the house and, of course, villainy to squash in the city of monsters. Using the magical passage in the cemetery that takes him to Monstros City, he forgets to close the door to the crypt, and is followed by...Victoria.
Oh, no. Victoria is Billy’s five-year-old neighbor, his constant shadow and huge pain in the butt. Worse is that Monstros City seems to exaggerate the traits people have in Bradbury, and Victoria arrives in Monstros with something that Billy names the Destructo Touch. Owlboy is supposed to protect Monstros City — but has he just introduced an agent of destruction?
‘I’M LOOKING FOR
A MONSTER!’
BY TIMOTHY YOUNG
In this novelty picture book, Timothy Young follows one little boy who is looking for a monster. But not just any monster — it has to be the perfect monster. Big, small, furry, horned, scaly, and scary monsters all file through one by one, until he finds the one he wants — but why does he need a monster anyway?
Young’s menagerie of monsters is illustrated in silhouette against brightly colored backgrounds that literally pop off the page. Kids reveal the monsters with a variety of novelty elements, including pull tabs, a wheel, a gatefold, and several pop-ups.
‘BILLY TARTLE IN SAY CHEESE!’
BY MICHAEL TOWNSEND
Denied a super-cool, yellow and pink spiked Mohawk haircut that would have made his class picture memorable, Billy Tartle take the kindly barber up on his offer to take as many free lollipops as he wants.
On the day of the picture, a clever and generous Billy shares the “super juicy fun pops” with all his classmates which makes the class picture one to remember.
‘THE CONFESSIONAL’
BY J.L. POWERS
Snide comments and racial tensions are routine for the students at Jesuit High, an all-boys Catholic school in a Texas-Mexico border town. When a Mexican terrorist attack on the United States occurs on Cinco de Mayo, the school is buzzing about the event and everyone has their theories.
Like many other days on campus, arguments ensue between the Mexican students and American students, but on the day of the attack, two students take their differences a step too far and one boy ends up in the hospital.
The following morning, the town wakes up to learn that a murder has taken place among these young boys and the cultural tensions escalate. Everyone has their own vendetta as they wrestle with their personal convictions and the opinions of their peers.
Everyone is guilty of something after all, but who is guilty of this ultimate crime?
‘THE SECRET OF THE
PAINTED HOUSE’
BY MARION DANE BAUER
In this eerie story, Emily finds that an abandoned playhouse she stumbles across in the woods is not as deserted as she first thinks ...
Emily’s family moved from Chicago to the rural cornfields of Illinois — and she is not happy.
Their new home is in the middle of the woods, and there is nothing to do, or so she thinks.
While her family unpacks, Emily goes off to explore the forest. After making her way through the trees, down the hill and across the creek she finds a locked playhouse.
She peeks through the windows and sees that the inside is painted to look just like the surrounding woods. To her surprise, a young girl named Penelope lives on the painted walls of the playhouse.
Penelope was abandoned as a young girl. Now a lonely ghost, she is desperate for Emily to join her.
When Emily returns the next day with her younger brother, they are lured into Penelope’s mysterious world and soon learn that unless they help Penelope find her mother, she will not let them leave.
‘WHOOO’S THERE?’
BY MARY SERFOZO
It’s nighttime, but the forest is alive with sights, sounds, and even smells. Whooo is out there? That’s what Old Owl wants to know.
Mary Serfozo’s rhyming text and Jeffrey Scherer’s graphic illustrations bring to life an inquisitive owl that loves to keep tabs on all the animals that prowl the forest at night.
‘VENDETTA’
BY CHRIS HUMPHRIES
Sigurd has invested a lifetime seeking out the secret knowledge and power of their Norse forbearers. Sky knows his own psychic weapons are not strong enough to fight his grandfather Sigurd, but Sky has other ancestors to learn from. And so in “Vendetta,” he travels to Corsica, home of his other forbearers, hoping to find some connection, some power, something, anything to help his cousin.
In Corsica, Sky discovers the blood feud of vendetta still runs hot in Sky’s family, as does the supernatural power of the Mazzeri, the Corsican dream hunters of death. Sky must again travel back through time, inhabiting the life of Tza, a fierce girl from the 1500s. As he sinks into Tza’s mind, Sky wonders are all of his ancestors murderers?
“Vendetta” launches readers into a world of ominous shadows, ruthless warriors, gory battles and power-hungry men. Filled with Nordic lore, Chris Humphries’ novel is part fantasy, part historical fiction — packed with murder betrayal and revenge.
NOTE: E-mail dpeery@edmondsun.com to have your name entered into a drawing for the following titles: “I’m Looking for a Monster” and/or “Billy Tartle in Say Cheese." Deadline is 10 a.m. Oct. 14. Winner will be notified by return e-mail. Winner is responsible for picking up the book at The Edmond Sun office.
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