May 1, 2018
Gr 5-7-Eleven-year-old Chance is a natural born pessimist in contrast to his eternally upbeat older sister, 13-year-old Constance. Chance is determined not to move to his family's new dream home in the suburbs after his father loses his job as the accountant to the Museum of the Peculiar Arts. Chance has become attached to the Museum, partly because he is serving as an apprentice to the current owner Fortunato. Chance has always admired a marionette named Penny that Fortunato owns and is thrilled when he is allowed to keep Penny after the museum closes. Chance soon realizes that he can communicate with Penny in his mind. Their relationship is abruptly ended when a mysterious stranger breaks into Chance's room and snips Penny's strings. Once Chance discovers the damage, he tries to repair the marionette, but with disastrous results-he winds up accidentally switching bodies with Penny. Penny, now in Chance's body, and Constance (who immediately recognizes it is not her brother in his body) team up and discover the terrible secret that the Museum, Fortunato, and his long-ago apprentice have been hiding. The kids are brave, persistent, and resilient. An additional storyline about missing children ups the creepy factor significantly. VERDICT A dark and spine-tingling tale for fans of "Goosebumps" looking for something a bit longer and more nuanced.-Julie Shatterly, W. A. Bess Elementary School, Gastonia, NC
Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
May 28, 2018
Set in 1952, Schusterman’s suspenseful, complex tale of adventure, magic, and soul-swapping stars an unstoppable pair of siblings, 13-year-old Constance and 11-year-old Chance Bonvillain, as well as a sad and startlingly lifelike marionette, Penny. Constance and Chance have always lived above the rundown Museum of the Peculiar Arts, where Penny and Fortunato, the museum’s elderly owner, reside, and where Chance helps out. When the museum is sold, the Bonvillains prepare to move to the suburbs, and Chance, in despair, hatches a plan to run away. Things grow complicated when Fortunato bequeaths Penny to Chance—and more complicated still after he and Penny discover that they can hear each other’s thoughts. When Chance and Penny accidentally switch bodies, the story takes on layers of mystery, introducing a creepy, ageless puppeteer, a host of missing children, and a traveling carnival that becomes key to the fast-paced plot. As her brother’s drama draws him into danger, clever Constance jumps into action to save him, and Penny proves herself a hero, too. The novel’s increasingly complicated intrigue will keep readers speculating right up to the gripping climax. Ages 8–12. Author’s agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary Agency.
May 15, 2018
Grades 3-6 Constance is a relentlessly cheerful, optimistic 13-year-old. Her younger brother, Chance, on the other hand, always prepares for the worst. And the worst comes when their parents announce that they're moving away from the bustling city into the quiet suburbs. Meanwhile, in the failing Museum of the Peculiar Arts is a life-size marionette named Penny. Though she cannot move or speak, Penny is very observant?something Chance discovers when he touches her strings and hears her voice in his head. But someone is pulling more than the marionette's strings: on the eve of the family's move, a puppeteer with magic tools switches Chance's and Penny's bodies, giving Penny life for seemingly the first time. It's up to Penny and Constance to return to the city, find Chance, and switch them back?if Penny even wants to return to her marionette body. Schusterman (Olive and the Backstage Ghost, 2017) returns with another eerie middle-grade novel that features resourceful children. Hand to kids who appreciate tales of sibling devotion and an old-fashioned touch of the peculiar.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)
January 1, 2019
When the Museum of Peculiar Arts closes, eleven-year-old boy Chance (a former volunteer) is given Penny, a lifelike, child-size marionette. In an accidental body switch, Chance becomes consciously trapped in the puppet, while Penny is free--and loving it. A creepy puppeteer, a traveling carnival, and Chance's come-to-the-rescue sister Constance feature in a complex and compelling plot with heart and a touch of horror.
(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
Starred review from April 15, 2018
The boundaries between puppet and person blur and break in this fairy-tale-inspired middle-grade novel.Chance, 11 years old and "a natural-born pessimist," loves volunteering at the Museum of the Peculiar Arts. But his white, upwardly mobile family is moving to a suburban horrorscape of "identical houses, all curved upward like bland smiles," and the museum is shuttering in the city's post-World War II boom. Fortunato, the museum's owner, reluctantly lets Chance take a mannequin named Penny, who is just about Chance's height, exquisitely carved out of walnut, and conscious during every moment of her inanimate existence. When Chance touches the strange silvery strings that control Penny's limbs, he hears her voice in his head, and this discovery launches Chance, Penny, and his big sister, Constance, on a high-stakes, dangerous adventure of soul-thievery and mystical portals. The beautifully creepy plot deftly weaves together old-time-y fears with fresh outlooks through richly realized characters who feel immediate and modern despite the 1952 setting. Especially well done is the approach to gender, as Chance, Penny, and Constance all struggle with different realities of embodiment and expression without resorting to cheap sentiment or heavy-handedness.An excellent melding of horror and heart, this complex story will appeal to a wide range of readers. (Fantasy. 8-14)
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