Happily ever after" looks like a real long shot for an Everylad who finds himself the quarry of an ancient, powerful witch.Kicked off (so to speak) in style by a 17th-century hanging, this modern-day tale pitches young Jack into the clutches of his many-times-great-aunt Gee Gee…who turns out to be Gretel, vilest of spellcasting cat ladies and bent on turning him into a living statue (partly as an object lesson for cellphone-obsessed youth everywhere but mostly just for chuckles). Luckily, she decides to toy with him for a bit—which gives him time to set out on multiple quests with some of her earlier victims. Following terrifying encounters with Ariel the mermaid's sharklike sisters and a host of heavily armed fairy folk ("They generally only kill you when they're bored"), he is able, at the very last tick, to fulfill a prophecy that whisks the hag off to a dismal fate. Tucking in decidedly atypical versions of characters from folk and fairy tales, as well as some dandy gross-outs ("Gretel's eyeball lay in a soggy pile on the floor"), Easson puts her increasingly self-confident protagonist through severe tests of both courage and cleverness that leave him, by the end, able to style himself, with some justice, "kind of a warrior now. Well, -ish." Aside from one of Jack's school friends, a minor character, the human cast presents as white.A rousing addition to the dark and Grimm shelf. (Fantasy. 10-13)

The last thing twelve-year-old Jack wants for his holiday is to visit mysterious and ancient Aunt Gee Gee in the English countryside...with no cellphone service! But things turn out worse than he imagined when Jack is suddenly the target of a real fairy-tale curse. Wry, fun, and suspenseful, Easson's story exposes the dark side of classic tales through the eyes of a contemporary reluctant hero.

Happily ever after" looks like a real long shot for an Everylad who finds himself the quarry of an ancient, powerful witch.Kicked off (so to speak) in style by a 17th-century hanging, this modern-day tale pitches young Jack into the clutches of his many-times-great-aunt Gee Gee…who turns out to be Gretel, vilest of spellcasting cat ladies and bent on turning him into a living statue (partly as an object lesson for cellphone-obsessed youth everywhere but mostly just for chuckles). Luckily, she decides to toy with him for a bit—which gives him time to set out on multiple quests with some of her earlier victims. Following terrifying encounters with Ariel the mermaid's sharklike sisters and a host of heavily armed fairy folk ("They generally only kill you when they're bored"), he is able, at the very last tick, to fulfill a prophecy that whisks the hag off to a dismal fate. Tucking in decidedly atypical versions of characters from folk and fairy tales, as well as some dandy gross-outs ("Gretel's eyeball lay in a soggy pile on the floor"), Easson puts her increasingly self-confident protagonist through severe tests of both courage and cleverness that leave him, by the end, able to style himself, with some justice, "kind of a warrior now. Well, -ish." Aside from one of Jack's school friends, a minor character, the human cast presents as white.A rousing addition to the dark and Grimm shelf. (Fantasy. 10-13)