Skip to main content

Ghoulish Song

By
 

Ghoulish Song
by William Alexander
Simon & Schuster, 2013.  166 pgs.  Fiction

     Ghoulish Song is a companion volume to Alexander's National Book Award winning Goblin Secrets, and takes place in the same odd community of Zombay, with the poor Southern section and the rich Northern section, and a flooding river that threatens them both. Kaile is a baker's daughter. Her mother bakes bread and pastries, and brews ale. The family's public house is due for inspection on the day our story begins.  Everything must be perfect, or the baker will be placed in an iron cage and dunked in the river for three straight days. But when a troupe of goblins asks to perform for the customers, Kaile agrees, thinking the Inspector will have come before they arrive.  He doesn't.  Her parents kick the goblins out and they start raining curses down on the household. She gives them the best bread so they will lift the curse, and the public house fails inspection. But worse than that, when the goblins give Kaile a flute and she plays it, she loses her shadow and becomes dead to her family and her community. In the company of her unattached shadow, she wanders here and there trying to discover the secrets of her flute which only plays one song, with mysterious consequences. Will Kaile be able to master her flute in time to save her city? will she and her shadow ever be reunited and she accepted into her family again?  These questions are answered in Alexander's rich narrative, a welcome addition to the literature of Zombay.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dragon Run

By
Dragon Run by Patrick Matthews Scholastic, 2013.  336 pgs.  Fantasy      Al Pilgrommor is excited for Testing Day, when he will receive his rank, a tattooed number on the back of his neck, and a path forward to his future occupation and life.  He feels confident because his parents were fours on a scale of seven, but he is worried for his friend Wisp who doesn't have much of a chance of scoring above a two at best. But when Al is scored a zero, he not only has no prospects, he may lose his life as the dreaded Cullers are unleashed to kill him and his family to purify the land's bloodlines.  Al's world is ruled by dragons--the lords and supposed creators of humankind--so he thinks that even if he survives, he will have to make his living as a beggar or thief. But when Al sticks up for his Earther friend in front of Magister Ludi, he is drawn into the struggle of a secret organization hoping to destroy the Cullers, and perhaps the dragons them...
1 comment
Read more

If You Like...KPop Demon Hunters

By
KPop Demon Hunters has been one of the most talked-about movies of the summer. If you loved this movie as much as I did, you don't want the magic (or the music) to stop. Try reading these books that touch on some of the same topics and themes as the animated hit! Brick Dust and Bones By M. R. Fournet New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2023. Fiction. 247 pages. Orphaned Marius works in the family business--as their cemetery's ghost caretaker. However, Marius also moonlights as a monster hunter in order to earn the costly Mystic currency he needs to bring his mother back from the dead. As the window to bring his mother back begins to close, Marius's exploits get more and more dangerous, and he may have set his sights on a monster too big to handle on his own. Like Mira, Marius longs for familial connection, and his work as a monster hunter will satisfy the thrill of demon hunting for fans the movie. Where's Halmoni? By Julie J. Kim Seattle, WA: Little Bigfoot, 2017. Comics. W...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: We're All Gonna Die-Nosaur!

By
We’re All Gonna Die-nosaur! By Kon Tan  New York: Disney Hyperion, 2025. Intermediate. 157 pages.  Pterry (the “p” is silent) pterodactyl is a worry wart. Pterry is worried about flying (he doesn’t how to fly yet), dinosaurs going extinct (he had a scary dream), and how to protect his family (he has a little brother who hasn’t fully hatched from an egg yet). Even though there is a lot of feels for Pterry, this is actually quite a funny book. Pterry tries to learn how to fly with kites as his “training wheels” and his brother who is inside an egg is quite the adventurer.  This is a funny, heart-felt comic-like intermediate fiction book that will be great for many readers. If kids love dinosaurs, this book is for them. If kids like funny graphic novels, this book is for them. If kids want to read something about facing fears and doing things even though they don’t always want to, this book is for them. Plus, even though Pterry does a lot of things on his own, he still has s...
Post a Comment
Read more