I would love Adam Selzer if only for the parents in
How to Get Suspended and Influence People. They cook theme dinners from vintage cookbooks. That, and I actually tried to get my daughter to decorate her room with schlocky old album covers like one of his characters, because it was such a fun idea. Mr. Selzer has FOUR new books out!
Andrew North Blows up the World, for 3-6th graders, about a boy who thinks his father is a spy,
The Smart Aleck's Guide to American History, which has solved my gift giving problem for what to get my children's history teachers,
I Kissed A Zombie and I Liked It, which may well be the only zombie book I end up really liking this year, and, for adults,
Your Neighborhood Gives Me the Creeps, which is based on Mr. Selzer's time giving Haunted Chicago tours. Whew. I hope that the lack of sleep does not impede Mr. Selzer's further writings!
Saw the sequel to Horowitz's
Groosham Grange (reviewed March 11, 2009) in the public library. Had it on my list to buy but didn't remember it at all. It was just as fun as the first book, with David in competition with another student to win the only school prize, The Unholy Grail. David is on the receiving end of many attempts to sabotage him, so the contest is a tie, which means that the two are sent to the British Museum to steal an artifact, and are then pursued by evil characters from a wax museum! (Including Sarah Ferguson, who isn't really evil.) These have a Harry Potter feel to them, with the Hogwarts type school, and if the publication date of 1988 is correct, this is very interesting!
I would love Adam Selzer if only for the parents in How to Get Suspended and Influence People. They cook theme dinners from vintage cookbooks. That, and I actually tried to get my daughter to decorate her room with schlocky old album covers like one of his characters, because it was such a fun idea. Mr. Selzer has FOUR new books out! Andrew North Blows up the World, for 3-6th graders, about a boy who thinks his father is a spy, The Smart Aleck's Guide to American History, which has solved my gift giving problem for what to get my children's history teachers, I Kissed A Zombie and I Liked It, which may well be the only zombie book I end up really liking this year, and, for adults, Your Neighborhood Gives Me the Creeps, which is based on Mr. Selzer's time giving Haunted Chicago tours. Whew. I hope that the lack of sleep does not impede Mr. Selzer's further writings!
Saw the sequel to Horowitz's Groosham Grange (reviewed March 11, 2009) in the public library. Had it on my list to buy but didn't remember it at all. It was just as fun as the first book, with David in competition with another student to win the only school prize, The Unholy Grail. David is on the receiving end of many attempts to sabotage him, so the contest is a tie, which means that the two are sent to the British Museum to steal an artifact, and are then pursued by evil characters from a wax museum! (Including Sarah Ferguson, who isn't really evil.) These have a Harry Potter feel to them, with the Hogwarts type school, and if the publication date of 1988 is correct, this is very interesting!
Oh yeah, Horowitz publishing is seriously weird. He tried several series in the 80s - Groosham Grange and Gatekeepers. They didn't do so well. Now that his Alex Rider series has gone big, his older series are being re-written, republished and continued. There was originally only one Groosham Grange and Gatekeepers has been retitled as Power of Five and extensively re-written.
ReplyDeleteThe fun thing about the Groosham Grange books are they seem to be drawn from his own school days. He shared many very similar stories about his childhood during a talk at a library conference I attended. Many of the jokes and lines in these books were echoed in his description of the school he attended as a boy. Funny and grim at the same time.
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