Skip to main content

Curse of the Boggin

By
Curse of the Boggin
(The Library, Book 1)
by D. J. MacHale
Random House, 2016. Fantasy. 242 p.

First in MacHale's new series (The Library, Book 1), Curse of the Boggin begins with a nine-year-old boy named Alec who is scared of something under his bed. Only this time there really is something there - a big black pit bull who chases him out the window and onto the roof. His father, following his terrified cries arrives in time to save Alec but not to save himself as the pit bull drives him off the roof to his death on the pavement four stories down. All that remains is a sentence carved into the wood of Alec's bedroom floor: Surrender the key.  Enter Marcus O'Mara, cocky middle-schooler who starts to see visions of his own - a frightening old lady in a green dress, a black bull charging through the hallways of his middle school. Scariest of all, he is being shadowed by a man in a bathrobe who turns out to be Alec Swenor's dead father, Michael. Turns out Marcus is the heir to the key the witchy woman wants surrendered to her, and the key opens the door to The Library, an otherworldly place where everyone's story is on the shelf, either finished or in progress. In this adventure, Marcus and his friends must defeat the Boggin, a frightening creature who thrives on the fear of others, and finish Michael Swenor's story. Tweens should love this thriller by the much-beloved author of the Pendragon series.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: The Factory

By
The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...
Post a 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: Finding Lost

By
Finding Lost By Holly Goldberg Sloan New York: Rocky Pond Books, 2025. Fiction. 208 pages. Middle schooler Cordy, along with her mom and little brother, Geno, are still learning how to adjust to their life after “The Accident,” a tragic boating accident that cost their father’s life. When Cordy is walking home from school one day, she finds a little stray dog who the family nicknames Lost, and as he joins their family, he helps them rediscover all of the beauty that life has to offer. Holly Goldberg Sloane delivers a heart-warming and poignant novel about loss, family, and perseverance. This was a well-written novel that could appeal to a wide range of readers. Any middle schooler will be able to relate to Cordy’s experience of dealing with change, and those who have experienced a similar loss will be sure to find solace in this beautiful story.
Post a Comment
Read more