Good Neighbors (review)

In this Australian import, the familiar plot of a family with bad neighbors is cleverly upended when it turns out that the rotten folks next door are humans and the beleaguered Floods are a large family of witches and wizards. The Floods have tried being patient, ignoring the bordering trashy yard and annoying sounds, but they've finally reached their limit. Thus begins a series of "accidents" that happen to members of the neighboring Dent family (one is turned into a sophisticated refrigerator, another is eaten by a long-buried zombie in the yard), the end result being, much to the Floods' delight, no more Dents. Thompson ably balances the several deaths and the macabre household in which the Floods live with humorous asides to the reader, absurd details about wizarding life, and a quick pace that keeps the reader from lingering too long on the individual fates of the Dents. In addition, as with the wretched children who visited Wonka's factory, the Dent family is so horrid, so exaggeratedly unappealing, that little sympathy will be spared for their fates anyway. Readers will be introduced to the Floods as much through the extensive end matter (files on each family member will aid significantly, for example, in sorting out the many children) and the numerous black-and-white illustrations as from the story itself, the first in a series. Even if young horror buffs don't spot the many nods to The Addams Family, they will certainly find this family, which gleefully breaks all the rules and considers bumping off neighbors a reasonable way to bring about peace, an intriguing and appealing group of protagonists. Pair this with Alan MacDonald's trolls vs. bad human neighbors tale Trolls, Go Home! (BCCB 9/07), and readers may never see the folks next door in quite the same way again.