The Lonely Lake Monster

The Lonely Lake Monster
by Suzanne Selfors
Recommended Ages: 10+

In this second book of "The Imaginary Veterinary" series, city boy Ben and small-town girl Pearl, aged 10, begin their apprenticeship at Dr. Woo's Worm Hospital with a simple but icky assignment: trimming the Sasquatch's toenails. Pretty soon, Pearl gets distracted, as she does. You can't blame her, because the distraction takes the form of a lake monster, like the Loch Ness Monster except in sharper focus. She's another creature from the Imaginary World, crossed over into the Known World to seek treatment by Dr. Woo. But she isn't harmless. When the kids run down to the lake shore for a closer look, she kidnaps Ben and tries to keep him as a pet on an island in the middle of the lake.

Pearl doesn't want to lose the boy who just might prove to be her best friend. She doesn't want to lose her job. But getting Ben back from the lake monster without getting caught will require her to break all the rules laid down at the beginning of their internship. She'll have to leave the building, obviously. She'll have to take a magical being out into the Known World. And she'll have to risk revealing Dr. Woo's secrets to the nosiest busybody in town, the horrid Welcome Wagon lady who keeps pounding on the locked gate, demanding to be shown around the place. Also, the magical creature she calls upon for help is one that hates humans and, to force him to help her, she must do the thing that'll definitely make him mad. Like stealing a leprechaun's gold. Exactly like that.

This is part 2 of a series of which I've already read books 1, 3 and 4. Like the other installments, it's effervesces with laughter, magic and a compassion for all kinds of people (except, perhaps, nosy busybodies). It throws a girl with a talent for trouble together with a boy who's known to worry, hesitate and, when backed into a corner, make up whoppers. They make a great team and play off of each other wonderfully, growing as characters as a result. And the cast of zany characters inhabiting the tiny, depressed town of Buttonville only adds to the fun.

For those of you reading the books in order, the next installment will be The Rain Dragon Rescue. For me, it'll be (or rather, already was) book 5, The Griffin's Riddle. Selfors' other titles include Smells Like Dog and its two sequels, a bunch of "Ever After High" books including A Semi-Charming Kind of Life and Hero Training and several other books, including Fortune's Magic Farm and The Sweetest Spell.