MALLORY VAYLE AND THE CURSE OF MAGOTTY SKULL
Mallory Vayle would list her interests as being normal, books about ponies and very definitely NOT talking to dead people. But when her parents' carriage takes a leap off Gibbett Bridge - an accident for which there appears to be no explanation - she is taken in by a strange aunt the family disowned years ago and brought to her new, and very spooky, home. Aunt Lilith, a charlatan psychic, is quick to monetise Mallory's prodigious skills in talking to dead people and starts to advertise grand seances ticketed obvs in her spiritual news sheet.
The ghosts of her parents also take up residence in the house but are cruelly snatched away by the shadow of Hellysh Spatzl, the grimmest, wickedest necromancer in all of history. To get them back, Mallory will have to learn how to use the talents she hates and raise the old hag from the dead. Her teacher? A talking skull called Maggoty, who wants some favours in return for his help - not just a gorgeous blond wig and some sparkly earrings, but for Mallory to break the curse that has left his spirit locked inside his own skull for 500 years.
Mallory will have to lean into who she is and what she can do and make a pact with the evil Hellysh Spatzl to get her parents back while at the same time putting on a sensational Halloween spectacular at only five shillings a head for an amazed audience at Nightmare Castle. And learn to love her chatty sidekick and his glorious wig
As darkly hilarious as The Addams Family, this is really good fun. An alternative spooky Victoriana packed with laughs and outrageous characters, at its heart, it's a story of a young girl coming to terms with her own gifts and accepting that nobody is 'normal'.
Edad recomendada: A partir de 11 años.
WILLIAMSON PETE
Pete comenzó su carrera creativa a mediados de los 90, trasladándose a Londres para trabajar como diseñador de personajes y fondos en la industria de la animación. Diseñó campañas publicitarias para la televisión estadounidense, antes de cocrear el cortometraje de animación de humor negro Being Bradford Dillman 2011 , ganador de 16 premios de animación en todo el mundo. Empezó a ilustrar libros infantiles en 2008, colaborando con Marcus Sedgwick en Elf Girl y Raven Boy, ganadores del premio Blue Peter, y con Guy Bass en Stitch Head. Ha ilustrado más de 65 libros infantiles.Pete vive y trabaja en la campiña de Kent, con su socia, la escritora Catherine Meade, y su pequeña hija.
