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Reviewed by:
  • Always October
  • Kate Quealy-Gainer
Coville, Bruce . Always October. Harper/HarperCollins, 2012. 367p. ISBN 978-0-06-089095-7 $16.99 R Gr. 4-6.

On a dark and stormy night, a basket holding an infant shows up on the doorstep of sith-grader Jake Doolittle. That's odd enough, but it gets much weirder when Jake is babysitting and said infant turns into a furry, sharp-toothed monster under the full moon. A nursery stakeout with his friend Lily convinces Jake that while the baby (now affectionately known as Little Dumpling) is indeed a monster, he's pretty harmless. No, it's the terrifying, fiery creature that comes out of the closet that sends Lily and Jake (with LD in tow) running into the neighboring graveyard where they find passage into Always October, LD's native land, which is a realm of nightmares and dreams that is in dire need of saving. In this surprisingly charming blend of fantasy and mystery, Coville strikes just the right balance of terror and whimsy with his picture-book worthy descriptions of the monstrous inhabitants of Always October. Jake and Lily alternate narration, and they represent two common and entirely relatable responses to fear: Jake is a multi-phobic who attempts to control every aspect of his life, while Lily is a thrillseeker whose response to being scared is to find something that scares her even more. Their voices are authentically kid-centered, and readers will likely recognize aspects of themselves in both reactions. The rules that govern Always October and its interaction with Jake and Lily's [End Page 78] world are at times unclear, but the highly entertaining storyline and the occasional interjection of bathroom humor will make this a hit among middle-schoolers.

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