George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series.

The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment. Tightly paced, Tor’s adventure concludes with a promise of more to come. Pages from The Book of Cuentos fill the gaps between each chapter, providing island lore for flavor and context. What sets this series opener apart is the author’s exquisite use of real Latin American folktales to broaden her fiction, bolstering the particulars of the world she creates here. Aster’s debut includes the fruitful elements of a riveting tale: lovable characters, thrilling heroics, and villainous fiends.

With two companions-Engle, his comically brave best friend, and Melda, an intelligent, cunning girl-Tor embarks on an adventure charted in The Book of Cuentos, a collection of folklore based on the various enchanting, cruel inhabitants-Emblemite and beast alike-of Emblem Island. Now the young boy must travel across Emblem Island to confront the wicked Night Witch and reverse the curse. It’s the Night Witch’s mark, a black eye marked upon his skin. Alas, his wish backfires when he awakens the next day cursed with a shorter lifeline instead.

New Year’s Eve has finally arrived on Emblem Island, and for 12-year-old Tor Luna, it means an opportunity to wish away the leadership emblem he so deeply loathes.Īmid the annual festivities, Tor casts his wish to the wish-gods in hopes of a new emblem-a marker on one’s skin-that will grant him the power to become a water-breather, forsaking the leadership path forged by his Chieftess mother.

Alex aster curse of the night witch