Landy, Derek.
SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT
New York : HarperCollins, 2007
IL 5-8, RL 5.0
ISBN 0061231169

(2 booktalks)

When Stephanie meets the mysterious but kind Skulduggery Pleasant at her uncle’s funeral, she doesn’t really think much of it ­ her uncle had plenty of strange friends.  Much to her surprise, the kind stranger shows up again ­ just in time to save her from an attacker demanding she give him “the key.”  During the scuffle, Skulduggery’s hat and scarf fall off, revealing that he is…a skeleton!  Stephanie refuses to let this fact bother her, and insists on teaming up with Skulduggery to find out what “the key” is and where it is hidden.  This is just the beginning of an action packed adventure in which Stephanie and Skulduggery must fight the evil forces of Nefarian Serpine, who is on his own quest to find an ancient scepter and take over the world.    They enter a hidden underground world of magic, monsters, betrayals, and impossible foes.  Will they be able to stop Serpine before it’s too late?

Find out in Skulduggery Pleasant, by Derek Landy.   (Anne Murphy, Sno-Isle Libraries, Washington)

Booktalk #2

On an ordinary day, in an ordinary town, an ordinary girl is about to make an extraordinary acquaintance-----
 She turned.  When his hat had come off, his hair had come off, too.  In the confusion, all she had seen was a chalk-white scalp, so she turned expecting to see a bald albino, maybe.  But, no.  With his sunglasses gone and his scarf hanging down, there was no denying the fact that he had no flesh, he had no skin, he had no eyes, and he had no face. All he had was a skull for a head.
When Stephanie inherits her eccentric uncle’s estate, little does she know she’s inheriting something along with it:  a life-or-death battle between good and evil.   Fortunately for Stephanie, she also inherits a friend and ally that just might help her make it out of this alive---Skullduggery Pleasant.  With his dashing fashion sense, snappy wit, and fire-throwing abilities, Skullduggery is just the guy to have along in fight---so who cares if underneath the designer clothes, he’s just a skeleton???   (New Hampshire Great Stone Face nominee, 2008-2009)