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CHARACTER COUNTS: Skary Childrin

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Skary Childrin and the Carosel of Sorrow
by Katy Towell
Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.
Fiction, 265 pgs.

When a terrible storm hits the town of Widowsbury, everything changes. Suddenly scary things begin happening: monsters appear and people disappear. 12 years later, the people of Widowsbury live a very wary lifestyle. Everything that's different or new is immediately suspected and usually run out of town.

Unfortunately Adelaide, Maggie, and Beatrice, students at Madame Gertrude's boarding school, are very different. Maggie is freakishly strong, Beatrice claims that she talks to ghosts, and Adelaide reminds everyone a little too much of a werewolf. The girls try to stick to themselves, not even talking to each other, but their headmistress still sends them to detention daily.

The three misfits live a miserable existence until the day Miss Delia shows up. She's the first librarian, the first person really, to believe that they are misunderstood and might just need a friend. For the first time, Adelaide, Maggie, and Beatrice have something to look forward to. When Miss Delia suddenly disappears the three team up for the first time, using their special gifts to not only save their new friend, but the very town that treated them so poorly.

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