The whatnot

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The whatnot

Title:

The whatnot

Author:

Bachmann, Stefan, 1993- author.

Series:

Peculiar ;

Series Number:

Summary:

Bartholomew Kettle, unable to save his sister, Hettie when she was pushed into the faery Old Country, promised he would find her but sinister forces are still at work and he must rely on Pikey, who would do almost anything to escape his past, to help find her.

General Note:

Companion book to: The Peculiar.

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

421 pages ; 22 cm

Genre:

Fantasy fiction.

Subject Term:

Fairies -- Juvenile fiction.

Changelings -- Juvenile fiction.

Magic -- Juvenile fiction.

Geographic Term:

England -- Juvenile fiction.

Publisher:

Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers,

Electronic Access:

Cover image

Publication Date:

2013

ISBN:

9780062195210

9780062286307

Publication Information:

New York, NY : Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2013]

Call Number:

M BACHMAN

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607002808213	Middle Fiction	BACHMAN	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

The Whatnot is the acclaimed international bestseller and sequel to Stefan Bachmann's riveting debut novel, The Peculiar, which Publishers Weekly called "an absolute treat for readers of any age," and which the Los Angeles Times compared to "Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, and more recent classics, such as J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events."

Twelve-year-old Pikey Thomas is missing an eye, a family, and friends of any sort. One day, running from bigger boys set on bullying him, Pikey finds himself in front of a grand, beautiful house. There he meets and helps a black-winged faery who is injured. It's a small gesture of kindness and bravery in steam-powered Victorian London, where faeries, now banned, are on the run or imprisoned; where the human armies are preparing for war; and where the changeling Bartholomew Kettle, aided by Arthur Jelliby, still searches for his missing sister, Hettie. This is the epic, dark, imaginative, unforgettable, and ultimately hopeful sequel to Stefan Bachmann's acclaimed debut novel, The Peculiar.

"An enthralling read . . . Bachmann combines the pleasures of a Dickensian cast of characters with the eldritch qualities of British faerie lore and adds a touch of steampunk to entice readers into an alternate universe in which the English are on the verge of war with the fay. The breathtaking beauty of his prose is coupled with a plot that also leaves his audience breathless."--School Library Journal

Reviews (2)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 5-8-This sequel to The Peculiar (HarperCollins, 2012) is an enthralling read in its own right, but even better for those acquainted with the first book. Bachmann combines the pleasures of a Dickensian cast of characters with the eldritch qualities of British faerie lore and adds a touch of steampunk to entice readers into an alternate universe in which the English are on the verge of war with the fay. Pikey Thomas is an urchin who's been "fairy-touched," which has left him with one eye that can see into the Old Country, but also endangers him in a society that is hostile to anything connected to faeries. Moreover, his real eye seems to be on a pendant around the neck of Hettie, the little girl who was captured by faeries in The Peculiar. Her brother, Bartholomew, has been trying to rescue her ever since and, when he comes across Pikey in a London prison, he effects the boy's release and enlists his aid. Bachmann writes with unnerving assurance for someone so young. (He was still in his teens when he completed the two books.) He describes an army camp: "It spilled out of the huddle of low stone houses like intestines from a goat's belly." The breathtaking beauty of his prose is coupled with a plot that also leaves his audience breathless.-Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Library, NY (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publisher's Weekly Review

In this exhilarating, violent sequel to The Peculiar, Bartholomew, a half-fairy changeling, and Pikey Thomas, a penniless 12-year-old street boy with a magical eye, wander a steampunkish Victorian London in search of Bartholomew's kidnapped sister, Hettie. Bartholomew, Hettie, and Pikey-seemingly mere pawns in the heated dispute between fairies and the English-all have the potential to influence the approaching war. Bachmann writes with a skill that belies his youth. His imagination tends toward the surreal, and he has a genius for envisioning fairy magic and architecture, as in his description of a vast, fluctuating fairy house that Hettie explores: "Sometimes she would step into a hallway that was being reconstructed and would discover a wall behind her where seconds before there had been a door, or that all the panels had been flipped and what had looked like a regular corridor before, now looked like a deep forest of red and rust-colored mushrooms." Readers will want to start with The Peculiar, and immediately dive into this fine tale. Ages 8-12. Agent: Sara Megibow, Nelson Literary Agency. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.