A Bite Above the Rest
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- 8,99 €
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- 8,99 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
A boy moves to a Halloween-themed town only to realize there may be more to the tourist trap than meets the eye in this middle grade novel of “thrills and chills in a gloriously goofy setting” (Kirkus Reviews) perfect for fans of The Last Kids on Earth and Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library!
When Caleb’s mom decides they are moving to her childhood home in Wisconsin, Caleb is not thrilled. Moving schools, states, and time zones would be bad enough, but Mom’s hometown is Samhain, a small and ridiculously kitschy place where every day is Halloween.
Caleb is not a fan of Halloween when it only happens once a year, so Halloween-obsessed Samhain is really not the place for him. How is he supposed to cope with kids wearing costumes to school every single day? And how about the fact that the mayor is so committed to the bit that City Hall is only open from sundown to sunup to accommodate his so-called vampirism? Sure enough, Caleb becomes an outcast at school for refusing to play along with the spooky tradition like the other sixth graders. Luckily, he manages to find a friend in fellow misfit Tai, and just in time, because things are getting weird in Samhain…or make that weirder.
But there’s no way the mayor is an actual vampire, and their teacher absolutely cannot really be a werewolf—right? Caleb discovers Samhain is so much stranger than he ever could have imagined. As one of the only people who realizes what’s happening, can he save a town that doesn’t want saving?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Heart and hilarity define this quirky All Hallow's Eve tale by debut author Virnig, who evokes the classic Halloween Town film series to ghoulish effect. Following his father's death, 11-year-old Caleb and his mother move from Los Angeles to her hometown—the Halloween-obsessed locale of Samhain, Wis.—for a fresh start. The first thing Caleb notices about Samhain is that everyone is in costume and acts like the character they're portraying—all the time. It also seems as if a hint of evil permeates the air. Luckily, he quickly befriends classmate Tai, who's dressed as "the World's Most Perfect Fairy," and with whom he's paired for a school project. As they work on their assignment, the duo soon uncovers oddities that are a little out of place, even for Samhain—particularly with the vampiric mayor—and that residents have been experiencing curious memory lapses. Surrounded by witchy neighbors, werewolf teachers, and other things that go bump in the night, Caleb must navigate feelings of grief and isolation; levying hijinks balance weightier themes of loss and adjusting to a new normal. Caleb and Tai are depicted on the cover with pale and brown skin, respectively. Ages 8–12.
