Curiosity Quills Tour ~ The Misadventures of Hobart Hucklebuck

*Book source ~ A review copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

Title ~ The Misadventures of Hobart Hucklebuck

Author ~ Stan Swanson

Publisher ~ Curiosity Quills

Published ~ 7 August 2014

Genre ~ Middle Grade | Fantasy

Pages ~ 208

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My Rating ~ 4 bites

Hobart Hucklebuck lives in Pennywhistle where basically everything is enchanted and doing regular ol’ magic is passé. Forget about doing things the old-fashioned way. Residents rely on enchanted items to do everything and when the enchantments suddenly start acting up or stop working altogether they have no idea what to do. Tie their own shoes? Put bread in a toaster and then butter it? Themselves?! How absurd! Complaints start to pile up and when Hobart’s grandfather, Wicksford Waxenbee, is charged with screwing up the enchantments, Hobart decides he needs to find the real person responsible. He and his friends play detective with mixed results. How will Hobart prove his grandpa’s innocence if he sucks at detective work?

I have to say this is a fairly cute Middle Grade story. It reminds me a lot of Harry Potter only much more whimsical. All of the characters have alliterative names, the enchanted items are quite creative as are the names of places and things to eat and drink, there’s old fashioned magic, a mystery, some peril, a bit of inept detective work and great characters. Plus, cats. Who doesn’t love cats? Well, besides Hobart. If you’re a fan of MG books then I highly recommend this one. It’s quite an enjoyable read.

About the Author

 Stan Swanson is a Bram Stoker award finalist and author of eight books including Forever Zombie (a collection of short stories), Write of the Living Dead (a highly-praised writing guide written with Araminta Star Matthews and Rachel Lee) and Return of the Scream Queen (co-authored with Michael McCarty and Linnea Quigley). He is also editor/publisher for Dark Moon Books and Dark Moon Digest. Upcoming titles include Horror High School: Return of the Loving Dead (the first book in a young adult horror series co-written with Araminta Star Matthews), Dead Sparrows (a collection of apocalyptic poetry) and The Methlands (a horror novel co-written with award-winning author Joe McKinney).

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