Watch Hollow
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
New York Times bestselling author Gregory Funaro brings us into a world where magic exists, monsters roam in the shadows, and wooden animals come to life.
Deep within the enchanted woods in the town of Watch Hollow stands the once-grand Blackford House, whose halls hold a magical secret: a giant cuckoo clock that does much more than tell time. But when the clock’s gears cease to turn, an evil presence lurking among the trees begins to come out of the shadows.
When Lucy and Oliver Tinker arrive in Watch Hollow, they have no idea that anything is wrong. A mysterious stranger has made their father an offer that’s too good for him to refuse. All Mr. Tinker needs to do is fix the clock at Blackford House and fistfuls of gold coins are his to keep.
It doesn’t take long, however, for the children to realize that there is more to Blackford House than meets the eye. And before they can entirely understand the strange world they’ve stumbled into, Lucy and Oliver must join forces with a host of magical clock animals to defeat the Garr—a vicious monster that not only wants Blackford House for itself, but also seeks to destroy everything the Tinkers hold dear.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Eleven-year-old Lucy Tinker; her pubescent brother, Oliver; and their clocksmith father, Charles Tinker, are down on their luck Lucy and Oliver's mother has died, and the family's antiques business is failing. When Mr. Quigley, an enigmatic stranger, smoothly offers Mr. Tinker a pile of gold coins to repair the clock at his Rhode Island residence, called Blackford House, things seem to be looking up. The dilapidated mansion is deep in the woods, a dramatic change from their city life, and the family is invited to live there temporarily. When a little wooden dog and other animal statues come to life after midnight and insist that Lucy is now the caretaker of the house, she soon discovers that "There are places in this world where magic is real." The animals have been hungry and frozen each day since the evil monster Garr appeared, and the house's giant cuckoo clock has stopped working. To protect the world and their new friends, Lucy and Oliver find themselves fighting alongside the animals in an inspiring battle against the Garr and enchanted woods that feed on fear. While the villain's motivation has been seen before, Funaro (Alistair Grim's Odditorium) writes action-packed chapters that create suspense en route to a cliffhanger ending, which suggests that a scary sequel may be on the way. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8 12.
