The Griffin's Riddle

The Griffin's Riddle
by Suzanne Selfors
Recommended Ages: 10+

For their own reasons, Ben and Pearl, apprentices to Imaginary Veterinary Dr. Emerald Woo, are having a bad mood day. It's frankly not a good look for them. But wait till they meet the Griffin, the giant half-eagle, half-lion who's the king of the Imaginary World. His moods actually affect the weather. And if he doesn't like them, he could keep them from going back to Buttonville forever.

Failure is not an option on this mission. Almost everybody in town, including Dr. Woo, has come down with a case of troll tonsillitis. It's extremely contagious and it makes your face swell up like, well, a troll's. Luckily, both Ben and Pearl have already had their tonsils taken out, so they're immune. That leaves only them to travel to the king's, er, palace. Them and Dr. Woo's quirky assistant, Mr. Tabby, who (you may not be surprised to learn) turns into a cat whenever he goes to the Imaginary World. His feline behavior is really unhelpful when they've got to persuade a temperamental Griffin to give them one of his feathers, which is the only cure to troll tonsillitis. Even less helpful is the nefarious Maximus Steele, an evil imaginary creatures poacher who menaces the kids during their urgent mission.

With this fifth book in the "Imaginary Veterinary" series, I'm only one book away from being completely caught up on the series; and that book is The Fairy Swarm. The fact that all six of these books were written about a decade ago puts me in a bit of a bad mood (to continue the theme), since it means it's unlikely the series will continue past the next book, and I'm really enjoying it. The hero kids have flaws and feelings that I can sympathize with. They're growing and achieving bigger things than they would expect of themselves, than most people they know would expect of them. They're fun to hang around with, and each of their adventures is loaded with magic, danger and hilarity. I'll be sorry to take leave of them. But Suzanne Selfors has other books to explore, such as a "Smells Like" trilogy featuring a dog, a bunch of "Ever After High" books including "Fairy's Got Talent, a trilogy about a dog and a guinea pig named Wedgie and Gizmo, multiple stand-alone books and a couple of upcoming "Willow's Woods" stories, due for release in 2025.