Book Review: Skary Childrin and the Carousel of Sorrow

Book: Skary Childrin and the Carousel of Sorrow by Katy Towell

Source: Library

Description:

Twelve years ago, for 12 days straight, the town of Widowsbury suffered a terrible storm, which tore open a gate through which escaped all sorts of foul, rotten things. Strange things and strange people were no longer welcomed in Widowsbury, for one could never be sure of what secrets waited under the surface . . .

Adelaide Foss, Maggie Borland, and Beatrice Alfred are known by their classmates at Widowsbury's Madame Gertrude's School for Girls as "scary children." Unfairly targeted because of their peculiarities—Adelaide has an uncanny resemblance to a werewolf, Maggie is abnormally strong, and Beatrice claims to be able to see ghosts—the girls spend a good deal of time isolated in the school's inhospitable library facing detention. But when a number of people mysteriously begin to disappear in Widowsbury, the girls work together, along with Steffen Weller, son of the cook at Rudyard School for Boys, to find out who is behind the abductions. Will they be able to save Widowsbury from a 12-year-old curse?


Rating: 5 stars

Review:

I checked this out from the library on a whim. The description immediately caught my attention and made me really want to read it. And I'm glad I did because this was wonderfully creepy but also quite sad at times.

The story follows four very unusual children: Adelaide Foss, Maggie Borland, Beatrice Alfred and Steffen Weller as they race to stop a very horrifying event from happening.

The three girls attend school at the Madame Gertrude's School for Girls and are constantly treated horribly not only by the other students but also by the teachers and faculty with include the evil Headmistress Mrs. Merryweather. The girls are punished severely and also placed in detection for things they did not do. The detention is in the library where there have been a string of librarians who dole out the harsh punishments. So these girls have come to dread the librarians.

There are never any kind words for these girls who are treated so differently all because they are very different. Adelaide has excellent hearing (with pointy ears included) and smelling and the other kids taunt her by calling her a werewolf or a dog. Beatrice who is nine years old is very smart but it's the fact that she constantly talks to her pet mouse who just so happens to be a ghost and that she can see ghosts period that have the kids calling her a freak. Last is Maggie who is in the same grade as Adelaide, she is very strong and has very wild hair and because her family comes from the circus she is constantly called a circus freak. All three girls do not have a single friend at school and their not even friends which each other.

However, that all changed when the new librarian Miss Delia Peet showed up. Since she's from out of town she doesn't know about the gloomy and untrusting town of Widowbury and she doesn't know of the mistreatment the students and faculty administers to the three girls. Therefore she is quite alarmed when she hears about the severe punishment that she's supposed to give out to the students if they are in detention. She also doesn't understand why these girls are constantly mistreated and tried to do something about it when their first detention session began. She took the girls on an innocent trip outside to get some fresh air to try to get to know them. Innocent or not that didn't stop her from getting in trouble with the Headmistress.

Miss Peet wasn't the only new comer to town, Mr. Lyle Zoethout arrived and planned to set up shop and sell candy to the townspeople. He was greeted by Steffen Weller a young boy who loves to invent things. Although his father works as a cook at the Rudyard school for boys, they are too poor for Steffen to attend.

Little by little strange things were starting to happen around town, people started to go missing including Miss Peet the only person who has ever been nice to the girls. They attempt to find her and also enlisted Steffen's help as well.

The more the four of them tried to figure out what was going on the more trouble Adelaide, Beatrice and Maggie got into at school. And without the kindness of Miss Peet they were back to the harsh treatment. There was also something strange about Mr. Zoethout, but was he connected to the strange things happening around town or just a new person in a town that despised things and people that were new?

With time running out can these four kids save the town before it's too late. I love how different this was even though the treatment of the girls made me mad. They didn't do anything wrong but that didn't stop the teachers and the Headmistress from being mean to them or for blaming them for things they didn't do.

This was a very good and rather inventive story and I like how creepy it was yet not graphic since it's a children's book. I love when I luck up on a good book.