Nola's Worlds:#2 Ferrets/Ferreting Out [Paperback]

Cats are always handy to talk to in a crisis and Nola was giving her Siamese a workout. There were no two ways about it . . . Nola York-Stein was simply cursed. Cursed in Alta Donna. She knew if the cat could talk she would say that she shouldn't "lose her head over a boy." Here she was, "barely a teen," and hanging out next to the phone waiting for it to ring. Damiano was going to have some explaining to do when she got back to school on Monday, especially about "all the mysteries surrounding his sister, Inés." Until then, she was simply going to have to stick by that phone. Naturally Mums was acting like a teenager again and that was totally annoying. The best thing she could do would be to take a bubbly bubble bath. Riiiiing!!! Guess who? Mums.

Nola could say anything to her mother and she didn't seem to listen. She was all excited about a party for a client and wanted Nola to go. Mums was a big businesswoman and only had eyes for work. At school Damiano and Inés, a brother and sister duo, talked about avoiding Nola and had eyes for everything BUT Nola. Even though Inés had taken Nola shopping, she scolded him saying, "And anyway I said it was dangerous to make friends." What on earth was dangerous about that? Just what kind of secrets were they hiding? Some really weird things happened when those two were around like the time Nola's best friend, Pumpkin, couldn't even remember that Nola had been tossed off the roller coaster at the carnival. Someone was casting some forgetting spells and she had to get to the bottom of it.

School never went well for Nola with that Lame-O teacher. Oh, and of course in biology class she forgot about her report on an animal and decided to talk about ferrets . . . "but ferrets secretly run the world . . . they manage our entire lives." Ugh! Things were going from bad to worse. Inés was telling her a pack of lies and Ragazzo called her a loser and a bizarro. AND Damiano wouldn't even look at her. She thought that things were much simpler when she was younger because "If you liked someone, all you had to do was punch him in the arm." Next thing you know she was at Mums party. Her very own Dad showed up and pushed her over the balcony! What was going on? There had to be a link between this attack, the attack on the librarian, and when Damiano and Inés showed up, but what was it? Were a bunch of ferrets really taking over the world?

Nola, a young teen from Alta Donna, has lost her head over Damiano, a mysterious boy who can't even look at her. This is the second in the series and its theme is coming together nicely, but you won't find any spoilers here. Nola is coming into her own and the reader will start to understand her much better and smile at her "bizarro" personality and lovable, sorta normal teenage ways. I appreciated Nola's wild imagination, especially when she was stuck in a classroom. Her relationships with her mostly absent Mums, her best friend Pumpkin, and the ones she would like to have, are becoming more distinct and more developed in this second book. The "mystery" is deepening, but the clues are coming faster now. The mangamongously appealing artwork is a real draw for me and the two-page spread of Nola's imaginary world of ferrets was amazing. This wildly imaginative, quirky, slightly zany graphic novel is one you might want to add to your list . . . if the ferrets will let you!

Reason for Reading: Next in the trilogy.

Nola was right about the new kids, Damiano and Ines. There is definitely something strange going on with them and now they have started to avoid her and she is determined to find out just what is going on. Otherwise Nola continues to live her ordinary hectic life, being late for school all the time, living with a mother who is never home, a workaholic, and acting like a teenager, while Nola keeps getting herself into all sorts of troubles with her daydreaming. Then Nola gets caught up in the action as strange people are after D. and I. and she finds herself in a dangerous situation and finally learns the truth about the brother and sister. And while you may be wondering, yes, there are ferrets. But I can't tell you about them, that would reveal too much.

Again, I just loved this book. The French artwork is fabulous. I love how it uses many manga techniques and yet it is decidedly its own style. The facial expressions, the clothes and the limb contortions are all very dramatic and add to the distinctive style which makes this very unique from Japanese or North American artwork. The plot is unique and fairly strange, one just goes with the flow and watches the story as it unravels for us. I appreciate how the author manages to make just the right mix of weird action plot and everyday life. We watch Nola as she gets up in the morning, eats breakfast, does schoolwork, goes shopping, etc. leading her usual every day and in amongst it all she makes time to stalk the strange kids, gets taken hostage by the men who are after them, has near death accidents and is remarkably saved, etc. Even when she is bored Nola is never dull. And the ferrets are an interesting concept. Very briefly and confusingly inserted in book 1, we get a much bigger explanation and view of them here. Just what is the story here? Damiano and Inez or the ferrets? Are they related? Some questions running through my head as I anticipate reading the final volume.

› Go to Amazon.com to see both reviews  5.0 out of 5 stars