Book Review: Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink

Welcome to Night Vale
by Joseph Fink

The podcast “Welcome to Night Vale” rose to international pop culture fame back in 2012, and its continued presence across the internet has surpassed the test of time. Now, new and old fans alike can enjoy the baffling and strange brilliance of the podcast in physical form. Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor’s knack of creepy storytelling is a brand new kind of absurdist cryptic horror, in which strangeness can be found lurking just over your shoulder and to the left a bit. If you’ve ever wanted to laugh both with mirth and terror, this book is for you. Perfect for the Halloween season, and any season you want to have just a little more existential dread.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Alice Isn’t Dead, by Joseph Fink, The Haunted Looking Glass, by Edward Gorey, or the TV series The X-Files, or Twin Peaks.]

[ official Welcome to Night Vale web site ] | [ publishers Joseph Fink web page ]

Recommended by Elanor J.
Gere Branch Library

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

Through the Woods
by Emily Carroll (741.5 Car)

I have been a fan of Emily Carroll’s artwork for a long time, and if you’ve been on the internet in the past ten years there’s a good chance you have also had the opportunity to view her strange and haunting illustrations. In Through the Woods, Carroll takes the beautiful fairy tales and dark nighttime stories of folklore long past and twists them masterfully into pages ripe with the nightmares you’ve long forgotten the specifics of by the time you wake up, yet still leave you with unease and longing. If you’re a fan of Poe, of Brontë, or of any story macabre and spooky, you will treasure Through the Woods.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Edgar Allen Poe’s Tales of Death and Dementia, by Edgar Allen Poe, Alice Isn’t Dead, by Joseph Fink, Welcome to Night Vale, also by Joseph Fink, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett, or Thornhill, by Pam Smy.]

[ publisher’s Through the Woods web page ] | [ official Emily Carroll web site ]

Recommended by Elanor J.
Gere Branch Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: Thornhill by Pam Smy

Thornhill
by Pam Smy (j Smy)

A chilling mystery told through a combination of diary entries from 1982, and drawings from 2017, “Thornhill” is a wonderful ghost story that will delight and haunt young and grown alike. It deals with bullying, and the complications of growing up in a young girls orphanage in the 80’s. The beautiful watercolor and ink illustrations are haunting and brimming with detail, and will enthrall readers with every page.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Invention of Hugo Cabret: a novel in words and pictures, by Brian Selznick, The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte or The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart.]

[ publisher’s official Thornhill web page ] | [ official Pam Smy blog ]

Recommended by Elanor J.
Gere Branch Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

New Customer Review - Storybound

Storybound
by Marissa Burt [j Burt]

Una Fairchild opens a book in her school library...and wakes up in a land where everyone is a character in a story! She befriends Peter, a Hero-In-Training and a talking cat named Sam, as well as a Prissy Princess with a few secrets of her own. But when a bunch of dangerous people realize Una's been 'Written In', and want her rubbed out of the picture, what can she do? I loved this book, filled with fantasy and magic, and real-life troubles as well! Read it...if you dare. -- review submitted by Elanor J. - a customer of the Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New Customer Reviews appear regularly in the pages of the BookGuide web site. You can visit the Customer Reviews page to see them all and/or submit your own, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually as we receive them.

New Customer Review - Bliss

Bliss
by Kathryn Littlewood [j Littlewood]

Rosemary Bliss has a gorgeous older brother, a laugh-out-loud little brother, and an adorable little sister, plus two wacky parents who own the best bakery in her town. But Rosemary is just...plain. She's nothing special. Until she realizes her parents are putting more than just sugar in their batter. They use magic to make people's lives better! But when her parents go away for a week and strange but amazing Aunt Lily shows up, everything goes wrong -- Rosemary and her siblings try to do magic for the first time and end up creating a disaster! Can they fix it before their parents get home? Filled with mystery, suspense, intrigue, and a dash of magical bliss, this book is sure to delight your sweet tooth! -- review submitted by Elanor J. - a customer of the Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?


New Customer Reviews appear regularly in the pages of the BookGuide web site. You can visit the Customer Reviews page to see them all and/or submit your own, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually as we receive them.

New Customer Review - Cold Cereal

Cold Cereal
by Adam Rex [j Rex]

Scottish Play Doe (a.k.a. Scott) can "see things" like a giant Rabbit-Man with a lisp, a two-foot leprechaun named Mick, and mermaids, unicorns, etc. But when he realizes they're REAL, and that they've just escaped from, off all places, the Goodco Cereal Company, a cereal factory with "a little bit of magic in every box," things start to take a turn for the weird...er...weird-er. And when, worse, he and his twin brother-and-sister-friends (the girl, by the way, barfs rainbows and burps butterflies) discover a weird cult is behind the draining of magic from magical creatures and the implanting the magic in cereal so they can rule the world and turn all cereal-eating-children into mindless zombie-slaves, what do they do? Only the obvious--camp out for a few days in Bigfoot's tree house (who happens to be a house-cleaner and nanny) and then they attack! Will the reign of the GoodCo Cereal Company ever end? Or will "Burlap Crisp" and "Peanut Butter Clobbers" take over the world? With a little help from Bigfoot, a Queen-Punching-Actor, and various magical creatures (including a fire-breathing Finch and a flabby Merlin from the future) this amazing book will leave you begging for seconds! -- review submitted by Elanor J. - a customer of the Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New Customer Reviews appear regularly in the pages of the BookGuide web site. You can visit the Customer Reviews page to see them all and/or submit your own, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually as we receive them.

New Customer Review - The Storm Makers

The Storm Makers
by Jennifer E. Smith [j Smith]

What if you had the power to create storms? When a mysterious man shows up and tells a girl named Ruby her twin brother Simon has this power, she responds how a normal person would. She doesn't believe him. But after evidence, Ruby is forced to accept the truth. And then she and Simon discover a plot to take over the world, destroy it, etc. etc. Can Ruby help Simon to master his power in time to save the world? And why is it he can only do it when she seems to be thinking the physics of the storm out? With delightful pictures by Brett Helquist, known for the Series of Unfortunate Events (uh...series) this book will electrify your wildest wishes! -- review submitted by Elanor J. - a customer of the Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New Customer Reviews appear regularly in the pages of the BookGuide web site. You can visit the Customer Reviews page to see them all and/or submit your own, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually as we receive them.

New Customer Review - Pillage

Pillage
by Obert Skye [j Skye]

I expected more from this book. I enjoyed all of it, except for the fact that the dragons were evil. I'm probably just being narrow-minded about this...it was a nice take on dragons, since nowadays they're mostly good. But I still expected more from it. -- review submitted by Elanor J. - a customer of the Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New Customer Reviews appear regularly in the pages of the BookGuide web site. You can visit the Customer Reviews page to see them all and/or submit your own, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually as we receive them.

New Customer Review - A Hero for Wondla

A Hero for Wondla
by Tony DiTerlizzi [j DiTerlizzi]

Tony DiTerlizzi has a sequel to his 'WondLa' book that is as spectacular as the first! Filled with adventure, aliens, danger, fear, worry, and every emotion a teenage girl practically stranded in a strange world filled with friendly and very very unfriendly aliens can feel! Both Rick Riordan (author of the Percy Jackson, Lost Hero, and Red Pyramid series) and Suzanne Collins (author of Gregor the Overlander and Hunger Games series) recommend this book! If you love Science Fiction, this is the book for you! -- review submitted by Elanor J. - a customer of the Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New Customer Reviews appear regularly in the pages of the BookGuide web site. You can visit the Customer Reviews page to see them all and/or submit your own, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually as we receive them.

New Customer Review - Chomp

Chomp
by Carl Hiaasen [j Hiaasen]

Carl Hiaasen has done a spectacular job in his new book Chomp. He combines adventure, drama, humor, and real-life-issues and danger into one thrilling and laugh-filled book. Included are two snakes (a Burmese Python named Beulah and a Banded Water Snake called Fang), one Alligator named Alice, one Florida Mastiff bat, one snapping turtle, and approx. 2,000 mosquitoes. Humans included mainly consist of a teen boy (missing a thumb) and his dad who practically own a reptile zoo, a teen girl and her dad (who is a drunk with a gun and a quick-to-strike-hand) and a not-so-tough "survivalist" who prefers cheese and jacuzzis to spending one day in the wild by himself, Derek Badger. Along the way, Mr. Badger gets "chomped" by all 2,005 creatures previously mentioned. Think he'll learn to survive? Ssssink your teeth into this good book! -- review submitted by Elanor J. - a customer of the Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New Customer Reviews appear regularly in the pages of the BookGuide web site. You can visit the Customer Reviews page to see them all and/or submit your own, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually as we receive them.