Fiendish Deeds

by P.J. Bracegirdle

Book Overview

After Joy Wells discovers the mysterious bog near her hilltop town of Spooking is in danger from development, she decides she must save it and the endangered species that live there. However, someone is determined to stop her.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416934162
• ISBN13: 9781416934165
• Release Date: August 2008
• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
• Length: 215 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.7" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

I Enjoyed This Read!

Joy and her family live in Spooking, a town that has been almost lost as most of the inhabitants moved out long ago. It is not your usual town but is one that is rich in history and mystery, a perfect place for our imaginative Joy to live. Joy loves anything dark and creepy, and reads over and over the writings of E.A. Peugeot as she tiredly researches the legend of the bog fiend. Things that go bump in the night for Joy are not something to run from, but are to be explored. However, sadly for Joy both her and her brother, Bryon, must attend school in nearby Darlington, the perfect American town that simply cannot understand why anyone would live in Spooking. The children are anything but kind to them and both Joy and her brother must endure name-calling. The story heats up as the author begins to layer mystery upon mystery as we meet some top players in this read,like Mr. Phipps who appears to have many secrets all surrounding Spooking, and the loveable Madame Portia, who lived in the bog with her late husband and is bursting with knowledge that Joy simply must tap into. However, when Darlington wants to do away with Joy's bog and put in a water park the action really beings, as you clearly see this will be a war to the finish. I liked this book. The characters were very well mixed from likeable to detestable, funny to scary, kind to evil. The locals were very well defined and the story was packed full of adventure and ran smoothly, building up to the ending with one mystery following another. The cover is perfect and definitely leaves you feeling, 'creepy,' and wondering just what you will find between the pages of this book. I look forward to the next two books in author, P.J. Bracegirdle's trilogy. Enjoyable and well done.

SPOOKINGLY ENJOYABLE!

Great fun read that appeals not only to it's target audience , but i think many adults would like it too. As with all things , one should take it for what it is. If you are looking for Salem's Lot , War and Peace , The great american novel , than by all means don't expect that. If you just wish to drink in a good little story than here it is!

A fiendeshly fun read!

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.

The Joy of Spooking

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.

Spooking is a Joy ;)

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.