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The Joy Of Spooking: Fiendish Deeds (2008)

by P.J. Bracegirdle(Favorite Author)

3.62 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1847383890 (ISBN13: 9781847383891)

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

Simon & Schuster Children's

series

Joy of Spooking

review 1: I picked up this book used because the cover reminded me of another MG novel I enjoyed called Horns and Wrinkles. Turns out, it's the same cover artist :). Not that has anything to do with anything, but still...The story. Joy is a girl living in a tiny town called Spooking. A nearly-forgotten town on the edge of the much larger town of Darlington. The Darlings tend to be unfriendly toward the residents of Spooking--Joy and her brother are called "Spookies" and are pretty much tormented by the Darlington children. And one day, it's announced at their school that the bog in Spooking is going to be mowed down so a water park can be built, which Joy knows will be the end of Spooking.Joy loves her town. It's dark and brooding, just like her. Joy wishes she had her mother's rave... moren-black hair. She hates all things pink and frilly, and her favorite author is Ethan Alvin Peugot, who Joy believes was a Spooky himself before his mysterious death.Using one of Peugot's stories, Joy attempts to save Spooking's bog from destruction.Simply put, I loved this book. I could totally connect with Joy. All the other characters were vivid and quirky as well. The writing completely captured me. I adore books like this. Dark and strange, with a kind of twisted humor. I am definitely getting the next book in the series!(Oh, I mentioned the book Horns and Wrinkles because of the cover, but actually, if you like this book you'll likely enjoy that one, too, because it's got a similar feel.)
review 2: Just as I suspected it would, The Joy of Spooking: Fiendish Deeds has earned a place on my list of all time favorites. I love the concept, I love the characters and the storyline is engaging and relevant. But most of all I love P.J.’s writing – it’s my exact kind of slightly dark humor and is full of gems like Joy’s brother Byron’s thoughts when the two meet a filthy but surprisingly friendly old “witch” woman at the bog:“Byron continued to stare at her suspiciously. He’d read the fairy tales, and such chumminess usually meant a kid-size oven was preheating somewhere nearby.”But I’m getting ahead of myself. Joy, Byron and their parents live in Spooking – “the terrible town on the hideous hill.” They don’t exactly fit in with the cookie-cutter residents of Darlington, the sprawling neighbor city where they have to attend school. Joy’s hobby is researching the legend of the bog fiend and the horror writer E.A. Peugeot and she’d really rather have nothing to do with Darlington at all. She does venture there to accompany Byron to a couple of parties (the precocious 8 year old has a crush on a darling of Darlington), and she is forced to confront some of its citizens in her quest to prevent a water park from being built over her beloved bog.This is a story about preserving diversity – both in nature and in society. But it is far from being preachy – it is fun and exciting with a liberal portion of spookiness. The villain, major assistant Mr. Phipps, is exactly the kind of well-rounded, conflicted fiendish deed doer that makes a juicy character – we get the sense that he was once quite like Joy before something went terribly wrong. I eagerly await the next two books in the planned trilogy to find out more about Mr. Phipps’ background and follow Joy and Byron’s further adventures. Highly recommended to all readers 8 and up. less

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