An enchanting, delightfully creepy tale of a girl who embarks on a quest through the mysterious and bewitching world that exists beneath our own. For children aged 8-12 from bestselling author Lauren Oliver.
Lauren Oliver captivated readers with her achingly beautiful first novel, BEFORE I FALL. She followed that up with DELIRIUM and then PANDEMONIUM - the first two books in her compellingly addictive trilogy. The eagerly anticipated final book in the Delirium trilogy, REQUIEM, will publish in Spring 2013.She is also the author of two novels for young readers, LIESL & PO and THE SPINDLERS, delightful, scary and magical novels that are certain to become modern classics of children's writing. A graduate of the University of Chicago and NYU's MFA program, she lives in Brooklyn, New York.Find more information at www.laurenoliverbooks.com, or connect with Lauren on Twitter (www.twitter.com/OliverBooks) and on Facebook (www.facebook.com/LoveDelirium).
The Spindlers is an intensely imagined mini-epic. Young Liza has to journey through a fantasy underworld to reclaim the soul of her brother Patrick. Accompanied by a rat wearing a wig, she sees off various outlandish creatures before a final show-down with the utterly villainous Spindler Queen. - IndependentIn the tradition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Coraline, The Spindlers is a frightening and fantastical heroine's quest. It offers terrifying and delightful creatures, daunting tasks and plenty of magic . . . The humour and writing is playful and clever in all the right ways - New York TimesOliver's magical, mesmerizing quest affirms the saving power of story, friendship, and love. - Publishers Weekly on THE SPINDLERSThe Spindlers is fun and exciting, and definitely a little creepy - but not too scary for the age range. It's as beautiful and enchanting as we've come to expect from Oliver's middle grade writing, but with a darker edge... The Spindlers is a fantastic story that will spark children's imaginations and take them on a spine-tingling ride of excitement! - www.onceuponabookcase.blogspot.co.ukThis fun, creepy story is full of mystery and adventure that will appeal to young readers - Press Association on THE SPINDLERSIt is a story that has deep roots in a variety of different kind
Gr 4-6-Patrick has always been a sweet, lovable child, but one morning Liza notices that her younger brother seems remote and somehow empty. Their parents are too preoccupied to notice, but Liza remembers eerie stories her beloved babysitter used to tell. She realizes that this not-Patrick is a changeling. Her real brother has been taken by the spindlers-spiderlike creatures that haunt the world below. These evil beings gather their power from the souls of those they steal, while the counterfeits they leave behind spawn more spindlers to prey on the human sphere. When Liza resolves to brave the danger and retrieve Patrick's soul, she meets Mirabella, a talking rat who claims to know the way to the spindler queen's nesting place. Together, they set off on their quest. The underground realm is filled with unusual residents-some amusing, some quietly beautiful, and some truly terrifying. Mirabella seems friendly and helpful, but the rat's cheerful demeanor hides a shocking secret. Ultimately, Liza and Mirabella must face their own tests of courage and sacrifice with not only Patrick's fate, but all of Below at stake. This imaginative fantasy emphasizes individual initiative and the power of hope and friendship. Below is a fully realized alternate world with echoes of both classic literature and mythology. This is particularly notable in its variety of inhabitants. Although the creatures are Oliver's own creations, such beings as the winged, dream-bearing nocturni and the shape-shifting, cannibalistic scawgs have the feel of true folklore. With strong, self-reliant female characters and well-defined action, this is a strong addition to fantasy collections.-Elaine E. Knight, Lincoln Elementary Schools, IL (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Liza knows the spiderlike Spindlers have stolen the soul of her brother, Patrick, when he spells "I H-A-T-E Y-O-U" in his Alpha-Bits cereal one morning. "And they had left this thing, this not-younger-brother, in its place." Liza's harried parents reprimand her for making up stories, so she ventures into the damp basement, crawls through the hole behind the bookcase, and falls into the world "Below" to save her brother. There, a gaudily dressed, loquacious rat, Mirabella, agrees to lead Liza to the Spindlers' nests. Along the way, Mirabella introduces Liza to troglods, who sell lost human objects; the lumer-lumpen (glowworms); nocturni, who guard human souls; and other strange, frightening creatures. The terrain changes in dreamlike fashion as Liza travels through market, forest, palace, mountain, and more, making discoveries both terrible and hopeful. Themes of fairness, loyalty, betrayal, and redemption play out in Liza and Mirabella's relationship, and throughout the underworld cosmos. Oliver's (Liesl & Po) magical, mesmerizing quest affirms the saving power of story, friendship, and love. Ages 8-12. Agent: Stephen Barbara, Foundry Literary + Media. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
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