Far-Flung Adventures: Corby Flood
Grade 3-5–The members of the large Flood family find themselves aboard a shabby cruise ship, with five of the children on their way to a new school. Eight-year-old Corby is the youngest and most resourceful of the lot, and as the S. S.Euphoniasails past the magical Dalcretian coast, she reads longingly about its wonders inHoffendincks Guide, a Baedeker-style travel guide. Curious Corby follows the other passengers around the ship, trying to find out everything she can about them, especially the Brotherhood of Clowns, five odd men in green bowler hats who appear to be plotting something sinister. When they catch her overhearing their scheme, they chase her on motorized deck chairs, and she barely escapes. While hiding from them in a crate of canned goods, Corby is unknowingly delivered to the Greek-like fishing town of Doralakia, which she had dreamed of seeing–but not while her family sails away without her. Stewart and Riddell follow upFergus Crane(Random, 2006) with this second tongue-in-cheek mock-historical volume in the series. Like their Edge Chronicles (Random),Corby Floodis filled with Riddells striking line drawings of peculiar characters, weird mechanical devices, and odd creatures. Fantasy fans will smile through to the end of this silly melodrama.–Walter Minkel, New York Public LibraryCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.