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Summary
Summary
From Bruce Coville, the master of tween comic suspense, comes a tale of monsters, the bond between brothers, and saving the world.
Jake's baby brother, LD, may be a monster (complete with fangs and fur!), but together with his best friend, Lily, Jake isn't going to let anything happen to that baby. Even if it turns out LD may be the key to saving the world--or destroying it. Soon Jake and Lily are on a perilous quest through Always October, a land populated with monsters.
Perfect for fans of Bruce Coville's beloved books, such as Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher, the Unicorn Chronicles series, and My Teacher Is an Alien series.
Author Notes
Bruce Coville was born in Syracuse, New York, on May 16, 1950. He spent one year at Duke University in North Carolina. Coville started working seriously at becoming a writer when he was seventeen. He was not able to start selling stories right away, so he had many other jobs, including toymaker, gravedigger, cookware salesman, and assembly line worker. Eventually, Coville became an elementary teacher, and worked with second and fourth graders.
Coville married Katherine Dietz an artist, and they began trying to create books together. It wasn't until 1977 that they finally sold their first book, The Foolish Giant. They joined together on two other books after that, Sarah's Unicorn and The Monster's Ring, and followed them with Goblins in the Castle, Aliens Ate My Homework, and The World's Worst Fairy Godmother.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-7-Two years ago, after his father went missing, Jake found a friend in his across-the-cemetery neighbor, Lily, who, it turned out, is no stranger to missing parents herself. Lily is a huge help when Jake is called on to help save a baby called Little Dumpling who's been left on Jake's doorstep. Little Dumpling transforms into the cutest baby monster you ever did see, and the friends are catapulted into an adventure when they learn that other monsters have plans for Little Dumpling as well. The full cast narration gives a distinct voice to each of the well-defined characters. The story (HarperCollins, 2012) is told alternating Jake and Lily's point of view and these two strong voice actors, Zac Fletcher and Nancy O'Connor, are well cast. Horror novel-loving Lily tends toward colorful analogies (the mausoleum was "as black as a coal bin at midnight" and old maps are "cooler than Frankenstein's pink pajamas") while Jake's ordered mind leads to his detail-oriented narration. Jake's obsessive compulsive tendencies are handled with care. Some of the sound effects can be cheezy, such as the lightning bolt the night Little Dumpling arrives, but they work well with Coville's purposefully campy B-movie writing style. This is a worthy addition to any youth services library. Give this to readers who don't like their horror too scary.-Susan Stumbaugh, Naperville Public Library, IL (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Sixth-grade best friends Jake and Lily (no relation to the headliners of Jerry Spinelli's recent Jake and Lily) narrate alternate chapters of this monster-filled adventure, chronicling their odyssey into a land they had mistakenly believed was a fictional creation of Jake's fantasy-writing grandfather. Sympathetic to each other's quirks--Jake's obsessive-compulsive tapping and "problem with bridges," Lily's love of macabre songs ("Cannibal Bunnies Go to the Fair")--they find refuge reading in their cemetery mausoleum hangout. When a baby appears on Jake's doorstep, and later transforms into a monster, the children, Lily's Grampa Gnarly, and others are forced to engage larger mysteries. Together they embark on a full-throttle race to save both the baby and the "Woven Worlds" from the Unravelers, who wish to sever ties between Humana and Always October, a place created from human imagination to "manifest and hold the fears that come with being alive." Coville (the My Teacher Is an Alien books) offers an entertaining, spine-tingling rollick as the group uncovers long-hidden secrets and discovers unknown strengths. Ages 8-12. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
From the very first line ("We've only got two weeks before Jake has to turn into a monster for the first time") to the riveting ending, this fantasy will have readers turning pages recklessly. Jake, son and grandson of men who disappeared without explanation, becomes enmeshed in the family mysteries when his (informally) adopted baby brother turns into a charming, fuzzy green monster. Jake and his sidekick "Weird Lily" Cawker leave our Earth and land in the world of Always October, where it is ever autumn, the landscape holds many dangers, and monsters reign over all. Their quest: Save both Earth and Almost October from a deranged monster. Documented in alternate chapters by Lily and Jake--which allows each one to end in a cliffhanger--the journey is exciting and moves along at a fine pace. Bursting with enticing characters and building tension, this book has everything a reader could want--breathtaking suspense, monstrously entertaining worldbuilding and lots of "punny" and burp-and-fart humor. Surprises abound: Most threads are wrapped up, but there is room left for other books with these diverting characters. (Fantasy. 9-12)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Twelve-year-old Jacob and best friend Lily frequently hang out at a mausoleum in the cemetery between their houses. One night they are swept into Always October, a parallel universe filled with monsters representing humankind's greatest fears. They encounter warring creature groups, including one that would like to permanently sever connections between the two worlds. Jacob's younger brother, Little Dumpling (a foundling who has recently become a monster himself), is the focus of this dispute, with each side claiming LD is the key to survival. Related in alternating chapters by Jacob and Lily, Coville's tale is a quest for survival and knowledge: Jacob needs to understand the disappearances of his grandfather and father and safely return LD to the real world, while Lily functions to support Jake, who suffers from multiple insecurities and OCD. Short chapters and a large font make the lengthy text accessible, and a cast of intriguing minor characters (especially a two-part monster, Sploot Fah, that bonds with Jacob) will intrigue readers. Give to fans of Debi Gliori's Witch Baby series.--Weisman, Kay Copyright 2010 Booklist