Falcon Quinn and the black mirror

Format:

Book

Title:

Falcon Quinn and the black mirror

Author:

Boylan, Jennifer Finney, 1958-

ISBN:

9780061728327

9780061728334

9780061728341

Edition:

1st ed.

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

486 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.

Series title(s):

Falcon Quinn ;

Number in series:

BK. 1.

General Note:

Sequel: Falcon Quinn and the crimson vapor.

Summary:

Thirteen-year-old Quinn believes he is fairly normal until he is spirited away from his grandmother's house to the Academy for Monsters, where he leads his new friends in rebelling against the faculty's agenda of suppressing students' true natures.

Reading Level:

Ages 10-14.

Program Information:

Accelerated Reader MG 4.4 14.

Reading Counts 6-8 3.5 22.

Subject(s):

Monsters -- Juvenile fiction.

Animals, Mythical -- Juvenile fiction.

Angels -- Juvenile fiction.

Schools -- Juvenile fiction.

Friendship -- Juvenile fiction.

Identity (Psychology) -- Juvenile fiction.

Monsters -- Fiction.

Animals, Mythical -- Fiction.

Angels -- Fiction.

Schools -- Fiction.

Friendship -- Fiction.

Genre:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... McMinnville Public Library	Boylan, J.	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Monmouth Public Library	J Fic Boylan, J. 2010	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Thirteen-year-old Falcon Quinn and his neighbors, Max and Megan, board bus number 13 for school on an ordinary day in Cold River, Maine. Only the bus doesn't take its ordinary route, and Falcon and his friends soon find themselves in an extraordinary place--on Shadow Island, at the Academy for Monsters.

With a student body stranger than the cast of any monster movie Falcon has ever seen, the academy is home to creatures and oddities of all kinds. In the academy's atmosphere, Falcon's friends begin to unleash and enjoy their monster natures, from flying with Pearl, La Chupakabra, to decaying with the "Zombie Snap." Falcon has always felt different, with his one bright blue eye and one shadow-black eye, but is he really a monster? Will he discover the other thing that makes him different when he finds himself in the Black Mirror? And when he learns that the school's mission is to teach students to hide their aberrant natures, Falcon and his friends need to find a way to fight back for their monster selves.

Bestselling author Jennifer Finney Boylan introduces Falcon, Max, Megan, and their band of monster friends in this first installment of a hair-raising and sidesplitting adventure of monstrous proportions.

Reviews (4)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 5-8-Twelve-year old Falcon Quinn has never fit in. He begins to understand why on the morning that an enchanted school bus takes him and fellow classmates, Max and Megan, to the Academy for Monsters, located on an island in the Bermuda Triangle. His friends discover their monster identities, but Falcon still feels like an outsider, unsure where he belongs. When it becomes apparent that the purpose of the Academy is to teach students to suppress their monster natures, Falcon and his friends must make a dangerous choice. Although the first title (Katherine Tegen Books, 2010) in a new series by Jennifer Finney Boylan has many parallels to the Harry Potter series, the author has created a complex and unique magical universe. After a somewhat sluggish start, the combination of adventure and humor, with more than a few plot twists, will propel listeners to the conclusion. Fred Berman's considerable talents channel the voices of 30 characters. His voicing of Irish leprechauns, English hunchbacks, Egyptian mummies, zombies, ghouls, and other characters is spot-on. Listeners will absolutely love his portrayal of Falcon's spunky friend, Pearl, "La Chupakabra, the famous goat-sucker of Peru." Fans of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson will enjoy Falcon Quinn.-Lisa Taylor, Ocean County Library, NJ (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Horn Book Review

One morning, Falcon Quinn's school bus unexpectedly whisks him off to the Academy for Monsters, where zombies, Frankenstein monsters, were-creatures, and other "abominations" are taught to suppress their urges and blend in. Even if he wanted to conform, sensitive Falcon's true nature is a mystery. Boylan's lightly humorous, creature-filled romp rarely loses momentum. Copyright 2010 of The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Review

Falcon Quinn, a poor 13-year-old with different-colored eyes, has no friends beyond adorable-and-tragic Megan and the six-foot-tall seventh grader Max. With a background like that, Falcon ought to know that he's about to get pulled into the magical world where he'll meet his destiny. When the teens board bus 13 on the first day of spring, it takes them not to Cold River Middle School but to the Academy for Monsters. They're monsters, apparently, and now that they're hitting puberty they have to gain control of their monster powers. In a castle in the Bermuda Triangle, Falcon and friends fight mean fellow students as well as teachers such as the Terrible Kraken and the creepy mothman. Falcon, of course, needs to discover the terrible secret of his birth. Despite too many corny jokes and a disjointed plot laden with continuity inconsistencies, the set dressing of this stock piece is packed with enough monstrous sillinessFrankenstein haiku, a loudmouth flying chupacabra, Destynee the giant slugto keep readers giggling. (Fantasy. 10-12)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

This first book of a new series opens with an attention-grabbing scene: 13-year-old Falcon Quinn and his classmates Megan and Max head to school, as usual, but their bus hurtles past all the regular stops and disgorges its passengers in front of a strange castle. There, the three learn that they are actually monsters and are part of the incoming class at the Academy of Monsters. Megan and Max are quickly labeled (an elemental and a Sasquatch), but Falcon's identity remains a mystery. Schoolwork quickly begins to teach the youngsters to resist their monster natures in order to evade the Guardians, a monster-hunting group. Then Falcon overhears his teachers discussing a harmful plot, and the kids flee, only to fall into more danger, forcing Falcon to make a terrible decision. The story is excessively long, and the message about embracing individuality and difference is heavy-handed. Still, persistent readers will be rewarded with the secret of Falcon's identity and the lure of dangers to come in the next installment.--Rutan, Lynn Copyright 2010 Booklist