The Fearless Travelers' Guide to Wicked Places

by Pete Begler

Overview

Twelve-year-old Nell Perkins knows there is magic at work that she can’t yet understand. Her mother has been taken by witches and turned into a bird. Nell must journey to get her mother back, even if it takes her deep into the Wicked Places — the frightening realm where Nightmares resides. There she must break the spell and stop the witches from turning our world into a living nightmare.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781623707996
Publisher:	Capstone
Publication date:	03/01/2017
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	734,025
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.40(h) x 1.20(d)
Lexile:	770L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Pete Begler lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two daughters. He writes for movies and television, including the Hulu drama Chance.

Interviews

Explores learning who you really are during the transition from childhood to adolescence, as well as the bond between mother and child. Emotional impact that will resonate with middle-grade readers. An enthralling fantasy universe with wildly creative landscapes to get lost in. Plenty of action, with fun, adventure-loving characters to join you on the journey.

Editorial Reviews

Readers won’t be able to put down this tale of self-confidence, finding strength when scared, and overcoming your own limitations. A fast-paced, vivid, and detailed read that evokes the aesthetics of Tim Burton and Neil Gaiman, this story will have readers wanting more. A perfect addition to any fantasy lover’s collection.

School Library Connection

...a triumph of world building that combines familiar fantasy elements in surprising ways. . . .[Begler] successfully balances the cozy anthropomorphism of a Narnia-type land with the borderline horror of Neil Gaiman or Stephen King. The vividness of this imaginary world would undoubtedly lend itself well to a big-screen adaptation.

ForeWord Reviews

STARRED REVIEW! This magical book is as dark as a Tim Burton film...but there is great power (and some successful humor) in creating a world so entirely original. . . . this is a gripping, surreal, and utterly delightful adventure that pairs the unsettling, off-kilter wonkiness of Neil Gaiman and Roald Dahl with the zinging imagination of L. Frank Baum.

Booklist

If you enjoy books about traveling to other worlds, you might want to also check out The Fearless Traveler’s Guide to Wicked Places by Pete Begler, where 12-year-old Nell must venture into the world of Nightmares to save her mother, who has been turned into a bird by witches. And while she’s there, she has to find a way to stop the witches from turning the whole world into a living nightmare.

"Lacey Recommends" New Moon Girls

★ 2016-12-14
An insecure young girl's quest for her missing mother leads her to Dreamlands, a parallel world of incredible dreams, dark nightmares, and dangerous deceptions.An "uncommon-looking twelve-year-old girl" with silver-blonde hair and amber eyes, Nell Perkins is able to see truths others ignore. After three local women mysteriously disappear, Nell insists they've been stolen by an ominous purple cloud. Then she witnesses the cloud sweeping her mother, Rose, away, leaving behind a small golden bird that Nell realizes is really Rose transformed. Determined to save Rose, Nell encounters Duke Badger, a Fearless Traveler, sworn to help those journeying to Dreamlands. Badger explains that Rose and the other missing women have been changed into birds by the Dark Daughters, "an ancient tribe of Nightmares." Only Ravenhead, an endangered Dreamer, can change Rose back to human form. With Badger as her remarkable guide, Nell embarks on a perilous quest to the Wicked Places, traversing surreal landscapes and confronting bizarre creatures, hoping against the odds to outmaneuver the Dark Daughters and save her mother. Throughout the relentlessly paced, endlessly twisting plot, remarkable Nell emerges a "fearless traveler" in her own right. Though race is referred to, the book's default is white. A wildly imaginative, richly textured, and complex fantasy. (map) (Fantasy. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews