Time Slip Tuesday-- The Haunters

 Time Slip Tuesday is an occasional feature at Charlotte's Library.

Taylor, Thomas. The Haunters.

28 May 2013, Chicken House

E ARC from Netgalley.com

 

David has frequent dreams about a boy named Eddie, and they come more frequently in the wake of his father’s death. When an ambulance picks him up from school, supposedly for a doctor’s appointment, David finds out that he is in a lot of danger because he is a Dreamwalker. He finds himself at Unsleep House under the tutelage of Professor Feldrake, who tells him that Eddie is actually David’s own grandfather as a boy. In 1940, during the Blitz, Eddie was able to escape, but in David’s dreams, he does not. There is a rival organization, Haunters, who are trying to go back into history and change it for their own evil purposes, and Eddie is one of their targets, since he grew up to organize the Dreamwalkers. The head haunter is a vicious boy named Adam, who is bound and determined to kill Eddie off with the help of a man from the time, Charlie Grinn. There aer other Dreamwalkers, Petra and Dishita, and they help David with the difficult process of traveling through a matrix of time and space in order to undo the bad things that the Haunters are doing. David learns even more secrets about his family’s past, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a sequel to this book.

Strengths: This was very well written with TONS of action and adventure, right from the beginning. Like all good time travel books, this one hurt my brain, but had a good device (the ghost concept is one I haven’t really seen, except sort of in Tom’s Midnight Garden), likeable characters, and understandable mission.  Fans of Michael Lawrence’s A Crack in the Line would love this one.

Weaknesses: I got oddly distracted by the concept of the cake tin, and this is clearly a British book.

Byng, Georgia. Molly Moon and the Monster Music.
26 February 2013, HarperCollins

Right on the heels of Molly Moon and the Morphing Mystery, Molly finds herself not wanting to go back to school or to her newly found parents, so when the opportunity presents itself to tag along with the Japanese band Zagger, she and Gerry jump on it. Molly has a gold coin of the evil Mrs. Hunroe's with her, and like Golem's ring, it makes her evil. She no longer just wants to follow the band, she wants to be the hottest new musical sensation. With her abilities to hypnotize people, this isn't hard, but she does have to contend with the evil Mr. Proila, who is managing Zagger. Before long, those near and dear to Molly realize that all is not right with her, but will they be able to extricate her from the clutches of both the coin and Mr. Proila?
Strengths: I love the covers on these, and they are rather like popcorn. I have one student who would read one of these a day. Good British magical realism.
Weaknesses: This is the sixth book in the series, and since the other books are not circulating well, I think I will pass. I usually liked Molly, even when she is power hungry, but she seemed especially evil in this one, and I didn't care for that.