The Bone Thief

September 4, 2017
Twelve-year-old orphan Grimsly Summerfield has the distinction of being the only normal resident of Quiver Hollows, a magical town where waterfalls flow in endless loops and people have supernatural abilities. In order to make himself more interesting, Grimsly begins to perform pet funerals at Summerfield Lawn, next to the twisted metal house he shares with Professor Snelling, his adoptive father. When things in Quiver Hollows start to become less magical, Grimsly is the natural person to blame. To save the only home he’s ever known, Grimsly must travel to the outside world to figure out what is happening. Noël (Five Days of Famous) takes a familiar trope—the special orphan—and inverts it in a way that recalls Gitty Daneshvari’s League of Unexceptional Children series (Grimsly is special precisely because he’s so completely ordinary). Despite this twist, most of the magical elements will strike fantasy fans as overly familiar. It’s an entertaining story, but not one that distinguishes itself from the pack. Ages 10–up. Agent: Bill Contardi, Brandt & Hochman.

August 1, 2017

Gr 3-5-When Grimsly Summerfield fails Quiver Hollows's spoon-bending exam, he isn't surprised. He is the only normal person in town and he hates it. He wants to be abnormal just like everyone else. Grimsly doesn't know why he is different but the other kids don't seem to care. However, when Quiver Hollows' waterfall starts to only move downwards and Mr. Sweetcraft's candies from his store no longer do magical tricks, the townspeople quickly turn on Grimsly, thinking it's his fault. He escapes in order to find the answers to save Quiver Hollows. The wordy and repetitive play-by-play of Grimsly's thoughts might overwhelm readers and make it harder to keep track of the story line, which is also peppered with all-too-convenient magical flashbacks that establish backstory. Many of the details of the setting serve more as fanciful entertainment than as a means of advancing the plot or characterization. The protagonist stumbles upon lucky sidekicks and plot devices to become the hero in the end. VERDICT More flash than substance; an additional purchase for large collections where magical fantasy flies off the shelves.-Rachel Reinwald, Lake Villa District Library, IL

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2017
Can Grimsly save his hometown from a vengeance-seeking madman?Twelve-year-old orphan Grimsly Summerfield is too normal for Quiver Hollows, a town shrouded in fog, where dogs give birth to purple piglets and everyone has magical powers. His guardian, Professor Snelling, who teaches spoon bending at the Manifesters Academy, encourages Grimsly in his pet-funeral business but admonishes the boy to protect the bones. When magic quickly vanishes from Quiver Hollows, the townsfolk blame the normal kid. The pets' bones have been stolen, and Grimsly sets out alone to seek the Seer. That quest spawns another, more dangerous venture into the normal world beyond the fog. Grimsly eventually happens upon Moonsliver Academy, where he discovers an awful curse, a horrible truth about himself, and a wicked man with evil plans. Condescending in its repetition and overuse of exposition, paranormal-romancer Noel's middle-grade fantasy is surprisingly amateurish. Grimsly's present-tense narration is awkward and off-putting, and none of the other characters come to life. Grimsly repeatedly bemoans his ordinariness; but in a town where everyone is weird, what's the measure of ordinary? Rampant conclusion-jumping in service of the storyline and clumsy narrative shortcuts make this an easy "no, thank you." There's no magic in them bones. (Fantasy. 9-12)

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September 15, 2017
Grades 5-8 Quiver Hollows is a world in which the unique and the unusual are prized and the normal is very strange. Orphaned Grimsly is the most ordinary resident, his only claim to fame being that he's the director of a pet funeral home. When Grimsly becomes the first to fail the annual sixth-grade spoon-bending test, everyone begins to notice normal things happening to the townand they blame Grimsly. Unbeknownst to him, the act of taking over the graveyard made him the new Keeper of the Bones. Turns out, the animal bones are what give the town its magic. Now someone from the Outsidesomeone connected to Grimsly's pasthas stolen those bones. Grimsly will have to find the man responsible, uncover his own past, and realize that maybe he isn't as normal and boring as he's been led to believe. Noel has created a magical world full of young kids with special abilities that evokes the atmosphere of the early Harry Potter books. Fans of fantasies and quirky characters will love this offering.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2018
Orphan and pet-funeral director Grimsly Summerfield is the only normal boy in the enchanted town of Quiver Hollows; so, obviously, he's blamed when the village begins losing its magic. Grimsly must travel to the normal world to break an ancient curse and stop the destruction of his beloved home. Unfortunately, the inventive magical world is compromised by a nothing-new plot and shallow characters.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)