- Hardcover: 192 pages
- Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry (Aug 5 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 141695063X
- ISBN-13: 978-1416950639
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #677,882 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
About the Author
P.J. Bracegirdle has done everything from tending the stage door of a haunted old Scottish thaeter to pushing laundry carts through dark tunnels under an insane asylum. His last job involved writing thick manuals that nobody really read for products that few people ever used. He lives with his son and wife (illustrator Susan Mitchell) in Montreal--a spooky old town with a cemetery at the summit. For more information, visit www.pjbracegirdle.com and www.joyofspooking.com.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Courtesy of Teens Read Too,
By TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Fiendish Deeds (The Joy of Spooking, Book One) (Hardcover)
Joy Wells, connoisseur of classic horror stories, the famous author E. A. Peugeot, and the swamp in her hometown of Spooking, has a problem. In fact, she has several.
First, she is forced to abandon her creaky old town of Spooking to descend to the suburban city of Darlington to attend school. Second, no one else seems to appreciate how amazing the spooky Spooking swamp is. And third, she has discovered that someone in Darlington has a plan to build a water park over her beloved swamp! The Spooking swamp is the source of endless entertainment and speculation for Joy, especially because it may have eerie connections to E. A. Peugeot's haunting masterpiece, "The Bawl of the Bog Fiend." Joy loves the swamp, but it appears that no one else does, and without opposition, it is clear that the Spooking swamp will soon be extinct. What can Joy do but oppose this horrendous plan, taking a stand against those determined to annihilate the swamp - and the town of Spooking - forever? FIENDISH DEEDS lays the groundwork for what promises to be a unique and compelling trilogy. The premise of this young adult book is interesting and, though the conflict acquires a certain level of melodrama through Joy's point of view, it still manages to nudge the reader towards speculations about the meaning of progress and the value of history. Joy is a fearless and quirky protagonist who unhesitatingly draws the reader into her own interests and cares, including the ever present E. A. Peugeot, a clever doppelganger of Edgar Allen Poe. FIENDISH DEEDS hits the ground running with a feisty protagonist, unlikely allies, and a sinister adversary as it introduces a grand adventure touched with mystery, action, horror, and the barest hint of romance. I was utterly disappointed to reach the end of the book only to find that FIENDISH DEEDS raises innumerable questions that it then refuses to answer. My only consolation is that there is a second (and third) book to come. Reviewed by: Rebecca Wells
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars (31 customer reviews) 9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spooking is a Joy ;),
By lenore531 - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Fiendish Deeds (Hardcover)
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. 6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Joy of Spooking,
By Allison M. Campbell - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Fiendish Deeds (Hardcover)
The minute I saw the creepy, Tim Burton-reminiscent cover, I desperately wanted to read this book, and reading the first chapter only made it more appealing. Bracegirdle (an unlikely name if I ever heard one) can write very, very well, and he has an imagination that just won't quit. Chapter one opens with an Edgar Allen Poe quote, and it's clear that Bracegirdle is channeling classic horror writers (he references Poe, but Lovecraft also jumps to mind). Joy Wells lives in Spooking, the "hideous hill" surrounded by the newer, suburban, cookie-cutter town of Darlington. The Darlings, as they call themselves, fear Spooking and mock the kids who come down for school at Winsome Elementary. Joy, a devoted horror fan, loves Spooking and has nothing but scorn for the neat, boring lives of the Darling kids who torment her at school. She becomes convinced that her favorite horror writer, E. A. Peugeot, set his stories in and around Spooking, and decides that the Bog Monster in her favorite story must be real. Meanwhile, plans to drain the bog and replace it with a water park are afoot.
The brilliance of this story is in sharp, accurate prose (often infused with delightfully dry wit) and a masterful sense of creepiness (I actually got shivers at the very end). The characters are classic, but complex. Joy's attitude about Spooking is balanced by Bracegirdle's descriptions of the town's decrepitude, and by one Darling child who is shockingly nice to her. Phipps, the villain, is one of the best horror villains in kids' literature. Parallels to Joy's attitude and situation make it apparent that they would have been kindred spirits, but something in Phipps's past changed him, and I can't wait to read about his background in one of the future books. Phipps is a toadying, bitter assistant to the mayor with his own agenda for getting rid of Spooking, and an annoying, Dursley-ish (but smarter) boy cluelessly helps him. Joy tries desperately to save the bog through a variety of means, involving several memorable side characters. The preservation of the bog brings in an environmental element, but it doesn't dominate the story. The balance between Spooking and Darlington is rich and complicated, and there is more than enough to fuel a trilogy. Joy is a delightful heroine with her stubborn Spooking pride and moments of self-awareness. I highly recommend this book, and I can't wait for Book Two next summer. 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fiendeshly fun read!,
By PanDragon - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Fiendish Deeds (Hardcover)
Pre-release customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program
Where to begin? First I would like to refer to other reviews here by lenore531, and Allison M. Campbell. They simply took the words right out of my mouth. Really spot on reviews that capture the essence of this book perfectly!
P.J. Bracegirdle creates a world where the sunny, safety of the suburbs and the things that go bump in the night collide in a brilliant mix of chills and tongue-in-cheek humor, all while conveying insightful, sarcastic social commentary that I think both children and adults will easily resonate with. In many ways I found his writing style reminiscent of Mark Twain and Tom Robbins. As I followed the main character Joy along on her spooky adventures, I kept thinking of when I first read about that infamous rascal, Tom Sawyer as a boy. Joy is carefully crafted in a way that is equally accessible to both boys and girls. Possessing a compelling fascination with the macabre, a taste for adventure, as well as a sharp and observant wit, Joy comes across like a blend of Tom Sawyer, Hermione from the Harry Potter series, and Wednesday from the Addams Family and all the while forced to attend school in an environment best suited for the Brady Bunch. And for those who get the joke, the hilarity ensues. To sum it up, this book is a sorely needed antidote for a Disney-saturated culture. It serves as both a safe haven for social outcasts of all kinds and an enlightening lesson to the Darlings of Darlington. If you grew up watching monster movies, if you're a Tim Burton fan, if Halloween is your favorite holiday, then this book is for you. If your kids loved movies like "Halloweentown," or "Corpse Bride," then they're sure to love this. |
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
