May Bird and the ever after /
Material type: TextSeries: Publication details: New York : Aladdin Paperbacks, 2006.Edition: 1st Aladdin Paperbacks edDescription: 317 p. : ill., map ; 20 cmISBN:- 141690607X (pbk.)
- 9780545003377
- 0545003377
- 9781416906070 (pbk.)
- 1415676887 (BWI bdg.)
- 9781415676882 (BWI bdg.)
- [Fic] 22
- PZ7.A53675 Mayb 2006
Item type | Current library | Home library | Collection | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Standard Loan | St Maries Library Juvenile Paperback | St Maries Library | Book | ANDERSO (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 50610015290211 | |||
Standard Loan | St Maries Library Juvenile Fiction | St Maries Library | Book | ANDERSO (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 2 | Available | 50610015286540 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Most people aren't very comfortable in the woods, but the woods of Briery Swamp fit May Bird like a fuzzy mitten. There, she is safe from school and the taunts and teases of kids who don't understand her. Hidden in the trees, May is a warrior princess, and her cat, Somber Kitty, is her brave guardian.
Then May falls into the lake.
When she crawls out, May finds herself in a world that most certainly does not feel like a fuzzy mitten. In fact it is a place few living people have ever seen. Here, towns glow blue beneath zipping stars and the people -- people? -- walk through walls. Here the Book of the Dead holds the answers to everything in the universe. And here, if May is discovered, the horrifyingly evil Bo Cleevil will turn her into nothing.
May Bird must get out.
Fast.
Lonely and shy, ten-year-old May Ellen Bird has no idea what awaits her when she falls into the lake and enters The Ever After, home of ghosts and the Bogey Man.
Table of contents provided by Syndetics
- Prologue
- Part 1 Into the Woods
- Chapter 1 A Sack of Beans
- Chapter 2 A Letter From Before
- Chapter 3 Beyond the Endless Briers
- Chapter 4 A Stranger Arrives
- Chapter 5 What Lives in the Lake?
- Chapter 6 The Hauntings
- Chapter 7 Light Underwater
- Chapter 8 The Beginning
- Part 2 The Ever After
- Chapter 9 A Faraway Shore
- Chapter 10 ""Make the Most of Your Eternity!""
- Chapter 11 Beehive House
- Chapter 12 Belle Morte
- Chapter 13 The Undertaker
- Chapter 14 The
Excerpt provided by Syndetics
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Publishers Weekly Review
Following the tradition of works by Lewis Carroll and Frank Baum, this first book of Anderson's series features a child entering a magical world where forces of good and evil are in combat. May Bird, a 10-year-old resident of Briery Swamp, West Virginia, discovers a mysterious letter from the Lady of North Farm requesting her help, along with a map of Briery Swamp Lake ("There were no lakes in Briery Swamp"). Intrigued, May finds her way to a hidden black pool, where she is literally snatched underwater and learns that she has entered the land of Ever After, a frightening place occupied by ghosts and ruled by the evil spirit, Bo Cleevil. May wants nothing more than to go back home, but first she must find the The Book of the Dead (it "holds the answers to all questions for both the living and the dead," the Undertaker tells her). This eerie tale will appeal most to horror story buffs. Anderson offers little relief from the terror May experiences as she is pursued by ghoulish forms determined to dissolve her into nothingness. Hope comes in the form of a handful of helpful ghosts, who protect May on her quest to find the book: Pumpkin, who plays a role similar to Dorothy's Scarecrow; John, a "wily knave"; Beatrice, a young ghost searching for her mother; and Captain Fabbio, a parachutist. Readers will have to wait for another installment to see if May finds the Lady of North Farm and manages to escape the world of Ever After. Ages 10-up.(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved All rights reserved.School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-May Bird is a gawky 10-year-old girl who, along with her only real friend, a furless Rex cat named Somber Kitty, is thrown into a strange world after falling into a lake near her home in Briery Swamp in this novel by Jodi Lynn Anderson (Atheneum, 2005). May and Somber Kitty are separated, and they have parallel adventures in the bizarre Ever After. May is astonished to realize that she is in the place of the dead, where everyone carries a Boogie whistle just in case they should come across a terrifying "live one" like her. Somber Kitty is in just as much, if not more trouble, as cats aren't allowed there at all. While May meets several unusual creatures who help her, Somber Kitty is left to his own wits and devices to escape the clutches of Egyptian cat worshippers who want to sacrifice him. Bernadette Dunne's narration enhances the story with quirky inflections and easily distinguishable voices for the various characters. After a rather slow start, once May and the cat end up in the Ever After there is non-stop action and many gruesome and terrifying apparitions, making this a good choice for reluctant readers.-Charli Osborne, Oxford Public Library, MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.Booklist Review
Gr. 4-7. Everything about 10-year-old May is odd: she lives at the edge of a deserted town; she's a shy misfit who hasn't a clue about making friends; and her cat is an outlandish-looking hairless rex. But not even May's worried mother knows ghosts are haunting May. After a mysterious letter lures her to a frightening world of the dead, May must find the courage to outwit the bizarre creatures hunting her and discover why she has been summoned to Ever After. This could easily have been just another formulaic story of a loner on a quest who learns how to love and lives happily ever after, but it's not. Anderson sets the unsettling, nightmarish tone of her offbeat fantasy in the first paragraph, then compounds the horror chapter after scary chapter (think Garth Nix's Sabriel0 , with a leavening of humor). The first of a trilogy, this book leaves loads of tantalizing, unanswered questions. Kids will love it all the same, but warn them not to read it at bedtime. --Chris Sherman Copyright 2005 BooklistHorn Book Review
After being pulled into the afterlife, May Bird embarks on a quest to find her way home. Traveling with helpful and not-so-helpful ghosts, May must learn the ways of this world and her own strengths. Her pet cat's parallel journey to reunite with May adds a poignant layer. Misty black-and-white illustrations are scattered throughout. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.Kirkus Book Review
The Wizard of Oz meets Beetlejuice in this tale of a ten-year-old loner who starts seeing ghosts, and then receives a plea for help that leads her into the Afterlife itself. As it turns out, the Ever After isn't much different from Southern California. Centered around the Pit of Despair Amusement Park and the enormous city of Ether, it's a giant bedroom community, where the dead communicate by Skullophone, vacation at the Towering Inferno Hotel and go to work on Earth each night, haunting their assigned houses. But there are nightmarish monsters too, from ghouls eager to eat your guts to the horrible, genial Bogey Man--all led by shadowy Evil Bo Cleevil, a Dark Spirit out to conquer the entire planet. Narrowly evading all manner of ugly fates, May Bird picks up some unusual companions and escapes the clutches of the Bogey Man by leaping aboard a train bound for her mysterious summoner. First episode of a projected three, this leaves May Bird in full flight through a vividly envisioned setting that's equal parts terror and tongue-in-cheek. Rare fun. (Fantasy. 11-13) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.Author notes provided by Syndetics
Jodi Lynn Anderson is the bestselling author of several critically acclaimed books for young people, including Tiger Lily and the May Bird trilogy. She lives with her husband and son in Asheville, North Carolina, a city that appears to have been founded by elves.Leonid Gore moved to the US from his native Belarus in 1991. He has illustrated many beloved books for children and is also the author and illustrator of Danny's First Snow . Mr. Gore lives in Oakland, New Jersey. Visit him online at LeonidGore.com.
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