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.

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.

A Nose for Adventure

A Nose for Adventure
by Richard Scrimger
Recommended Ages: 11+

In The Nose from Jupiter, a Canadian boy named Alan Dingwall faced loneliness, alienation, bullying and intramural sports with the help of a tiny, wisecracking alien named Norbert who, for a while, parked his spaceship in Alan's nose. A year later, Alan is a nervous flyer coming in for a landing at LaGuardia Airport, worrying that his dad (who now lives in New York) will forget to meet him at the airport. Well, he's right about that, but what's even worse is that someone immediately tries to kidnap the snotty, wheelchair-bound girl who sat next to him on the flight, and before he knows it, the two of them plus a stray dog are on a perilous adventure across Manhattan. And that makes four of them, because (as I may have forgotten to mention), Norbert is back.

It's an adventure involving scary goons, stolen goods, a charlatan, gullible rich people, public transit, a friendly street kid who seems happy all by himself, and a couple of unhappy kids – one rich, one not so much – who desperately want to feel their parents' love. And also, the always hilarious voice of Norbert, which now seems to be coming out of the nose of a dog named Sally. You can never predict what he'll say next, except that it will be funny on some level. And there are a lot of levels to this beautifully, intelligently written book.

Alan, at times, seems to be an extremely smart kid. His internal musings are vivid, colorful, keenly insightful, and emotionally compelling – not to mention loaded with historical and literary references that you'd be surprised to find occupying the mind of a 15-year-old kid from a small city in Canada who (apparently) doesn't know anything about Abraham Lincoln or George Washington. At other times, he's amazingly obtuse and unobservant, failing (for instance) to remember what a car looked like that was involved in his own kidnapping. Sometimes it's as if the author's intellect runs away with his average-kid narrator. But it's an inconsistency that you're willing to live with because it enables you to enjoy this as, again, a beautifully and intelligently written book that both touches your heart and tickles your funny bone.

This is the second book of the "Nose" trilogy, which continues with Noses Are Red. Scrimger is also the author or co-author of something like 18 other books, including The Way to Schenectady, Of Mice and Nutrcackers, Me & Death, Zomboy, Downside Up and At the Speed of Gus, as well as a companion book to this series, titled The Boy from Earth, in which Alan travels to Jupiter. The more Alan and Norbert, the better.

The Sasquatch Escape

The Sasquatch Escape
by Suzanne Selfors
Recommended Ages: 10+

I got things out of order by reading books 3 and 4 of this series first, but this is book 1 so I guess I'm starting to work that out. I've already met them, but if you do it right, this is where you'll get to know Ben Silverstein – a boy from Los Angeles with a habit of making up stories and boy, some of them are whoppers! He's come to Buttonville for the summer to stay with his grandpa because his parents are having some marital issues. There isn't much to do in a town where most families moved away when the button factory closed. But on his first day there, he and a girl named Pearl Petal, who lives above the Dollar Store, witness what looks like a dragon flying overhad. Nah, couldn't be ... could it?

Then grandpa's evil cat brings home something strange. A tiny, injured creature with wings like a bat, but instead of fur it has scales. And a long, nobbly tail. And it breathes fire. The little thing needs medical attention, stat. But where can Ben and Pearl turn, other than the strange veterinarian, supposedly specializing in worms, who has taken up residence in the abandoned button factory? Maybe, they think, she knows something about baby dragons as well as worms. After all, there's a big dragon living on her roof.

Perhaps disappointingly, they don't get to follow through on what happens to the baby dragon, or rather wyvern, after they entrust it to Dr. Woo and her bizarre assistant, Mr. Tabby. But that isn't to say they don't have an adventure. In fact, they're practically forced into it, when Ben mistakenly leaves the front door unlocked and lets a sasquatch escape. Now the streets of Buttonville are haunted by a strange raccoon that sorts garbage by color, and the nearsighted residents of the old folks' home are visited by a nice doggy who takes an interest in Pudding Day. To hustle the sasquatch out of the old folks' home and back to Dr. Woo's Worm Hospital will call for tons of skill, mainly of the improvisational variety, as Pearl and Ben find creative ways to escape detection by the town's nosiest busybody and her nasty, tale-bearing daughter.

The magic of creatures from the world of imagination has never been funnier and more down to earth than in this book and the series that follows it. Honestly, I laughed the hardest at some of the nonsense that comes out of Ben and Pearl's mouths, like (in this book) a line about taking worms for walks and giving them baths, and (in one of the sequels) their advice to listen for pet worms coughing. Everybody is relatably flawed, and some characters are just bonkers. Like Mr. Tabby, for instance, who has a tail. I'm on board to read all six books in this series, out of order but so what? Next up is The Lonely Lake Monster.

Dude, Where's My Spaceship?

Dude, Where's My Spaceship?
by Dan Greenburg
Recommended Ages: 8+

In this thin, goofy and charmingly illustrated book, we meet alien siblings Klatu, Lek and Ploo, joyriding around the galaxy in their little spaceship just after Klatu (the eldest) earned his flying license. Unfortunately, Klatu is a varna, which is alien for a klutz, and they end up crashed in the Nevada desert, not far from Area 51. Worse, Ploo gets caught by some army guys, and even using her ESP abilities she's unable to persuade them to let her go. So Klatu and Lek must follow, chewing English language gum and transforming their big-eyed, big-headed, gray alien bodies into the look of children from a bygone era (because their school books on Earth are out of date). And despite not knowing that the cardboard box isn't an edible part of the pizza, they rely on a purloined pizza delivery as their ruse to get into the top secret government installation.

Ploo, meanwhile, has befriended a nice little girl whose father, Major Paine, is determined to save Earth from the alien threat. Ploo's escape depends on the bumbling boys and her own social skills, but that's only the start of their adventure because now, they have to find a mechanic – an earthling mind you – who can fix their banged-up flying saucer. Good luck!

This book, whose title is inspired by the 2000 comedy film Dude, Where's My Car? (and I'm sighing to think I have to explain this), is the first of six installments in the Weird Planet series, which continues in Lost in Las Vegas, Chilling with the Great Ones, Attack of the Evil Elvises, Lights Camera ... Liftoff! and Thrills, Spills, and Cosmic Chills. The edition I read was illustrated by Macky Pemintuan. Dan Greenburg, an author I'd never heard of before I laid eyes on this book, is a surprisingly prolific fellow, credited with the Max Segal trilogy (Love Kills etc.), 30 "Zack Files" books (A Ghost Named Wanda among them), eight "Maximum Boys" books (How I Became a Superhero etc.), eight "Secrets of Dripping Fang" books (including Please Don't Eat the Children), and about a dozen other novels including Green Eggs and Dinosaurs. He doesn't seem to have put out any new books since about the mid-2010s, but he has a big catalog going back to about 1968, so if Ploo and her brothers amuse you, you'll have your used book shopping cut out for you.

Cry Wolf!

Cry Wolf!
by Sienna Mercer
Recommended Ages: !2+

Justin Packer has a secret kept so well, even his identical twin brother, Daniel, doesn't know about it. As a naturally athletic kid with a human mom and a werewolf dad, he's expected to wolf out on the first moon on or after his 13th birthday. He's looking forward to it, really. After all, the next day he's starting school at Pine Wood Junior High, and the football tryouts are right after school, and all the other boys on the offensive line are werewolves, too. It's part of what makes them hard to beat. Only ... when the moon rises that night, it isn't Justin who turns. And Daniel has no idea what's happening to him.

It's hard enough to be going through puberty, but "hair growth in unexpected places" isn't the half of it. Though one brother is into football and the other is trying to start a rock band, they have this much in common: when the girl they like is looking at them, they get tongue-tied. Only, in Daniel's case, his teeth and fingernails start to grow, his hands get hairy, and sometimes an uncontrollable howl escapes from his throat. He feels like a freak. Maybe you can relate.

The imagination that brought you "My Sister the Vampire" is at work again. In fact, there's even a character who moved from the town where all that middle school weirdness went down. And there's another gang of boys called the Beasts, only instead of lame-brained teenage Vampires, they're lupine (that means wolfen) jocks who hit hard on the field, munch extremely rare burgers and hear a lot of "Get a grip, cub" from their coach. So, while Daniel worries about whether his band's lead singer will figure out his secret, Justin just has to survive practices where his own teammates are scarier than the other side.

It's a cute, teen romance slash coping-with-the-changes-of-adolescence melodrama, with a strong dash of laughter and a goofy take on the paranormal. You'll probably roll your eyes a bit at the twins' cluelessness when it comes to talking to the opposite sex, but then reflect, how much better at it were you at their age? And as so often happens, you'll also wonder why everbody doesn't just tell the truth (for example, Justin to his teammates, Daniel to his bandmates, to say nothing of "louping" Daniel in on the family secret) but, I guess, things like being a werewolf probably are the sort of thing you'd keep under as tight a lid as possible.

It's book 1 of a quartet, which continues in Puppy Love!, Howl-oween! and Tail Spin. Don't forget to check out Sienna Mercer's sister/vampire series, which runs for 18 books and includes such titles as Stake Out! and Spooktacular!. And watch where you sling that garlic, or that silver necklace, or whatever. Some people might be allergic!

The Order of the Unicorn

The Order of the Unicorn
by Suzanne Selfors
Recommended Ages: 10+

In this fourth installment of "The Imaginary Veterinary," Buttonville's girl troublemaker Pearl Petal and her summer-visitor bestie, Ben Silverman, get a second chance, as mere apprentices to magical creatures vet Dr. Woo, to travel to the Imaginary World. This time, it's to rescue a missing unicorn colt, who has somehow strayed into the forbidden Dark Forest, which in the first place, is dark (like, duh), and in the second place, is populated by predatory plants. So, it's a bad place. And only Pearl can go in there, because unicorns trust little girls if they're pure in heart. She just has to work on the pure in heart part, what with her nemesis – Little Miss Perfect, Victoria Mullbery – being awarded a membership in the town's prestigious Red Wagon Club. Oooh, does that burn!

I almost forgot the mention "in the third place," which is that the enemy of all imaginary creatures, a certain Maximus Steele, is trying to catch a unicorn for his own nefarious purposes. We learn a bit more about him in this book, and actually see him about his nasty work. Even in a town as sleepy as Buttonville, there's more to being an apprentice with an imaginary veterinary than trimming Sasquatch nose hairs and playing fetch with a juvenile dragon.

While I wouldn't exactly call this a gripping thriller, it is a fun story with gentle characters upholding gentle values – like Dr. Woo's pronouncement that all creatures deserve medical care, even monsters that eat children. Who's to judge? (I forgot to mention the children-eating monster. But I wouldn't want to spoil every surprise, would I?) Ben and Pearl's friendship, the funny quirks of their personalities, the little bit of sadness about them that goes to your heart – like the fact that, apparently, Ben is staying with his grandpa because his parents are getting a divorce – make them real in your heart; real enough to believe in the fantastic things they experience.

There are more fantastic experiences to follow, with six books in this series including (next in line) The Griffin's Riddle, and many other books by Suzanne Selfors, such as Next Top Villain, Science and Sorcery, Coffeehouse Angel and Mad Love.