The astonishing chronicles of Oscar from elsewhere /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Amazon Best of the Year

AudioFile Earphones Award Winner



A unique blend of humor, suspense, and magic, unfolding through the instantly recognizable rivalries, affections and foibles of her characters, from Jaclyn Moriarty



During a sleepover, a letter comes to five children begging for the urgent assistance of Esther Mettlestone-Staranise, the newly-realized Rain Weaver; she must arrive before 10am on Monday to save an entire town of elves. When they arrive, the children find two incredibly odd things: first, the town of elves, buried under layers of silver; and second, a regular-size boy who, soon after seeing the children, dies.



Oscar is that boy who skipped school in our world on Monday to skate, and found himself in the city of the elves at just the wrong moment: He fled as fast as he could, but not fast enough because the silver wave struck him and he fell down dead.



And that's just the beginning! At breakneck pace the cousins and friends (and a six year old stowaway elf named Gruffudd, who's a troublemaker) try to stop the clock and rewind the tragedy. Can they do it?



The pleasure is all in the adventure, as only Jaclyn Moriarty can tell it.





PRAISE FOR THE KINGDOMS AND EMPIRES BOOKS



★ " A delightfully quirky story with nuance, depth, and a colorful cast of characters, this book begs for multiple readings."

-- School Library Journal (starred)



★ "Like a middle-grade version of Terry Pratchett's Discworld--fantasy adventure steeped in humor, with a touch of satire, and set in a whimsical secondary world of the highest order."

--Booklist (starred)



"Beautifully presented."

-- Sydney Morning Herald



"Splendidly entertaining."

--Kirkus



"The tale crescendos to an uplifting close that promotes honesty, bravery, and self-confidence."

--Publishers Weekly

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Booklist Review

The fourth book set in the villainously underrated Kingdoms and Empires universe brings back an ensemble of beloved past characters while introducing 12-year-old Oscar, a new protagonist from neither Kingdom nor Empire, who joins the others after being teleported from elsewhere (Sydney, Australia) to the Elven city of Dun-sorey-lo-vay-lo-hey, where he promptly dies. The story alternates between hilarious--and sometimes unreliable---epistolary accounts by eldest-sister Imogen (accompanied by her siblings and cousins) and Oscar, who fortunately did not really die. Together, the two recount a quest that the group is roped into pursuing: Dun-sorey-lo-vay-lo-hey, following its centennial tradition, has been blanketed by accumulating layers of silver, its residents all cursed asleep by Witches (this part is not tradition), and they will all be crushed to death if someone doesn't collect nine pieces of a key by Friday at 10:00 a.m. On the other hand, if someone saves the city, they will become king! The questers set out on Monday, following clues given by a genie via a bottle full of their own modified memories, and encounter a series of good and evil magical beings in a desperate race to find the key-keepers. As always, Moriarty leans into the humor of her Pratchettesque world and its absurdities while managing to craft lovable characters and nail down poignant moments of heart. A furiously fun adventure.

Horn Book Review

Moriarty's fourth volume in the series that began with The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone (rev. 9/18) sees the three Mettlestone-Staranise girls and the former-pirate-now-prince Alejandro once again heading off to save the day. The Elven city of Dun-sorey-lo-vay-lo-hey will be under threat from Doom Lantern Witches -- and worse -- if the children don't find the nine pieces of a key necessary to unlock the city from its spell. Joining the questers is skateboarding Oscar, who has landed in the Kingdoms from our world, much to everyone's mystification. Moriarty's fantasy is an intricate confection of a fairyland, busy with good-humored, imaginative invention. The personable, confiding voices of the two narrators, Imogen and Oscar, propel the novel along with a style as breathless with emotion as it is with unpredictable adventuring. The story isn't quite as tightly woven as its predecessors, but in amongst its eventfulness and prolific domestic squabbling, the narrators' sorrows and insecurities provide a convincing psychological underpinning. Deirdre F. BakerJanuary/February 2023 p.89 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

Accidentally slipping into a parallel world, 12-year-old Oscar from Sydney, Australia, finds himself involved in an elaborate quest to save a town of Elves. One Monday morning at the skate park, Oscar Banetti gazes into a mirror and finds himself transported to another skate park where a giant silver wave is speeding toward him. That same day, 13-year-old Imogen Mettlestone-Staranise, her two sisters, a cousin, and another boy are summoned to the Elven city that is buried beneath a blanket of silver. Witches have placed all the Elves under a sleeping spell. Imogen and the children also witness Oscar apparently being killed by the silver wave. In fact, Oscar's not dead--though he's now stranded in this magical world until the Elves are freed. In order for this to happen, the six young people must become questers, deciphering enigmatic clues to find nine pieces of a key held by different key keepers, unlock a spell, and set the Elven city free within five days--or the Elves will die. Organized by the advancing days of the week to heighten the tension, the complex, fast-paced plot unfolds in Oscar's and Imogen's droll, alternating voices. On this endlessly surprising, often precarious, sometimes frustrating, and seemingly doomed quest, the children encounter magical creatures, including a Genie, Radish Gnomes, Crystal Faeries, and Water Sprites as their "tricky, tricksy trip" becomes a true journey of self-discovery. Oscar has Italian, Scottish, and Chilean heritage; Imogen reads White. Nail-bitingly suspenseful and refreshingly witty. (Fantasy. 9-13) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Jaclyn Moriarty is the prize-winning, best-selling author of novels for young adults and adults including Feeling Sorry for Celia and The Year of Secret Assignments. Jaclyn grew up in Sydney, lived in England, the US, and Canada, and now lives in Sydney again. She was born in 1968 in Perth and studied English and Law at the University of Sydney. She then completed a Masters in Law at Yale University and a PhD at Gonville Caius College, Cambridge. She worked asan entertainment an dmedia lawyer before becoming a full-time writer.

The Asbury Brookfield Series is four novels that revolve around various student that attend the exclusive private school, Asbury High. Many of the students cross over into more than one novel. The series includes: Feeling Sorry for Celia, Finding Cassie Crazy, The Betrayal of Bindy Mackenzie, and Dreaming of Amelia. Her title The Cracks in the Kingdom won the Aurealis Award in 2014 for Young Adult Novel. It also won the Ethel Turner Prize for Young People¿s Literature.

(Bowker Author Biography)