Bibi Blundermuss and the Tree Across the Cosmos

by Andrew Durkin

Overview

Twelve-year-old Bibi Blundermuss is terrified of trees. Being around them makes her dizzy and sick to her stomach—even comatose. So, when her only to chance to find her missing parents means climbing a magic tree in the forest near her home, she almost doesn't take it.  

 

When Bibi grits her teeth and scales the trunk, the tree grows—so violently that she and her cat Eek are catapulted into another world. Here, she befriends a herd of elk, on the run from a pack of vicious white lions. And she discovers, to her amazement, that her mother is a witch who has been protecting the elk with a poison flower spell, which keeps the lions away.

 

Yet the longer Bibi stays in the world of the elk and lions, the less sure she is that her mother is truly on the elks' side—or even on Bibi's side. In the end, a dangerous journey into the lions' lair and a reunion with both parents uncovers a secret that changes Bibi's life forever. Drawn into an epic snowbound battle against an army of zombie trees, she must face her greatest fear to discover her greatest power.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940166479525
Publisher:	Andrew Durkin
Publication date:	03/15/2022
Sold by:	Draft2Digital
Format:	eBook
File size:	903 KB
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Andrew Durkin is an author, songwriter, composer, and editor based in Portland, OR. His first book, Decomposition: A Music Manifesto (Pantheon, 2014), was one of Los Angeles Magazine’s “Best Little Music Books” of 2014. For more than ten years, he led the Industrial Jazz Group, a Los Angeles-based big band that released five critically acclaimed recordings, was featured on NPR, and toured the US and Europe. At Inkwater Press, he edited No God Like the Mother by Kesha Ajose Fisher, winner of the 2020 Ken Kesey Award for Fiction sponsored by the Oregon Book Awards. Currently, he is the editor-in-chief at Yellow Bike Press, and author of the Bibi Blundermuss middle-grade fantasy series. In 2022, he will also release a debut singer-songwriter collection, Critical Kid.

Editorial Reviews

05/20/2022

Gr 4–6—Bibi Blundermuss is scared of trees. She isn't sure why, but she knows her fear started six months ago, when her adventurer parents disappeared. Still, when her beloved cat Eek is chased into the woods by a swarm of bees, mixed-race Bibi decides to face her fear and sets off after her. This rescue mission turns into a bigger adventure than Bibi bargained for, beginning with an unplanned trip through outerspace on a fast-growing Ash tree that deposits her on an unfamiliar planet, in the middle of an eerie dead forest. There she befriends several young elk, who promise to help her reunite with her mother. Bibi's hylophobia is ever-present in the novel, and its debilitating effects of nausea and dizziness will be familiar to many readers who struggle with anxiety. Durkin's imagery brings the mysterious far-away planet and its inhabitants to vivid life, though the pacing of the novel is uneven. Like Bibi, readers are left in the dark about her family's magical roots until the very end of the story, leaving room for a follow-up. VERDICT The representation of a Black female protagonist grappling with her mental health is a welcome addition to the middle grade fantasy field.—Dana West

School Library Journal