Richie's Picks: DEMONKEEPER by Royce Buckingham, Putnam, May 2007, ISBN:
0-399-24649-4
" 'There's only one copy of this in the nation,' she said. 'I can have it
for you in three weeks.'
" 'Great! Thank you...'
" 'I'm Sandy. And there's the one-dollar interlibrary loan fee.'
" 'Right. Of course,' Nat said. He nodded and began dumping dimes,
quarters, nickels, lint, and an inspected by tag onto Sandy's pristine desk.
"Sandy couldn't help herself -- she stacked the coins by denomination, then
hurried the lint and tag to the garbage.
"Nat smiled as he watched her fuss.
"Sandy realized he was watching and looked up. Their eyes met. U Go Girl!
she thought. She took a deep breath. 'You know, you've been coming here for
a little while, and I never see you with anyone.'
" 'I don't know a lot of people.'
" 'You know me...now.' She scribbled on his interlibrary loan receipt.
'You could call my cell.'
" 'Your cell?'
" 'My phone.'
"Nat debated. He looked pained. 'I'm not supposed to,' he said finally.
" 'What? Like there's some rule against it?'
"Nat took his receipt. 'Yes,' he said quickly, and he fled before she could
say another word.
"Sandy watched him go, sad. She didn't know how U Go Girl! would rate her
effort to adventurize, but she imagined that, because the first boy she'd
gotten the courage to proposition had run away, it wouldn't be good."
I really enjoyed my first visit to Seattle. The Convention Center where ALA
was meeting is conveniently located right in the center of the city, and the
buses -- which are inexpensive when heading to the outskirts and free when
traveling around the city center -- are all operated by friendly, helpful
drivers. We stayed at a hostel which was close to the water and right around the
corner from both the Pike Place Market and a nice little shop with great
salt bagels. And, we had the pleasure of being taken out for lunch to a
highly-acclaimed vegan restaurant: Bamboo Garden on Roy Street. The hot and sour
soup there is the best I've ever tasted.
Just a few blocks away from the restaurant, in a massive 1901
Craftsman-style home that sits amidst a tidy Queen Anne Hill neighborhood, Nat --
that
skittish 15 year-old boy who was being assisted by high school sophomore and
Seattle Public Library junior assistant librarian Sandra (Sandy) Nertz -- lives
alone. Well, not really alone. The house is filled with demons and it is his
job to feed, care for, and contain them, now that his teacher, Dhaliwahl has
died. It has been a challenging and often lonely first month of "keeping"
the demons on his own. For heaven's sake! He's almost gotten himself eaten.
And Dhaliwahl's teachings had, in fact, included instructions that Nat stay
away from girls.
There are hundreds of goofy demons bouncing around Nat's house. And then
there is The Beast, a deadly, nightmarish demon being kept locked in the
fortified basement who is fed through a barred feeding shoot.
Oh, and don't forget about Nat's own three minions: There is Pernicious, "the
demonic incarnation of nasty surprises," Nikolai, who "embodies the chaos of
not knowing one's own strength," and Flappy, "a wind demon, the incarnation
of swirling gusts -- the aimless, spasmodic sort that sent children's kites
into trees." The trio are a total blast.
But, the question is, when things start really going badly, will the minions
be more help or hindrance? And what about Sandy, the resourceful teenage
junior assistant librarian? Or the pair of skater dudes who break into the
demon-filled house with disastrous consequences.
"Nat stomped his foot. 'I mean it, did you receive a clear visual image of
three demonic manifestations that are minionic in character?'
" 'I saw a pint-sized dragon, a deformed evil gnome on steroids, and a
retarded two-legged Chihuahua.'
" 'So you did see them,' Nat said."
DEMONKEEPER by Royce Buckingham is an alternately sweet, funny, and
occasionally deadly story of a lonely boy, a lonely girl, a house full of demons,
a
vengeful apprentice gone bad, a pair of skater dudes, and The Beast. The
middle school kids are going to eat this one up with a gusto equal to that of
Pernicious, Nikolai, and Flappy when they greedily dive headfirst into their
cast iron trough full of fish guts.
Richie Partington
Richie's Picks _http://richiespicks.com_ (http://richiespicks.com/)
Moderator, _http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_school_lit/_
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_school_lit/)
BudNotBuddy@aol.com
_http://www.myspace.com/richiespicks_ (http://www.myspace.com/richiespicks)
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