Fiction Friday (76)

It's time for another Fiction Friday and my thoughts on the book I've most recently finished reading. I've been working on a Middle Grade story and therefore have been finding myself drawn to Middle Grade fiction. I'm not entirely sure why it took seven years from the time I read the first Billy Bones until I picked this one up off the shelf, but it did...yet I'm glad to say it didn't take anything away from my enjoyment.

Billy Bones: The Road to Nevermore by Christopher Lincoln
(Little Brown, 2009)

While the first installment of Billy Bones read like a tight little mystery surrounding the secrets of the Afterlife and how they blend into the real world, this story reads like a quick adventure tale, steeped in the spookily entertaining setting of the Afterlife. The corruption of the bureaucratic Afterlife that was exposed in the first story comes back to haunt young Billy (now-human once again) and his cousin, the resourceful and brave Millicent. The children unexpectedly get caught up in a dastardly plot hatched by high ranking officials from the Lightside and Darkside. When Millicent is whisked away and held prisoner in the hidden shadow world of Nevermore, Billy must recruit the help of a few outlaw skeletons and take on the menacing Shadewick Gloom and his legion of evil creations before time on Earth unfreezes, leaving Millicent trapped forever.

There is a quirkiness to these books that I find really appealing, and unlike the mass number of books out there for younger middle grade boy readers (though it should be noted that this is certainly not a boy only book). It's imaginative, has plenty of thought provoking moments, and moves quickly from beginning to conclusion. It's a perfect primer for children not quite ready for slightly older dark fantasy and the vast worlds and casts of characters they bring.