Curse of the Night Wolf (Barnaby Grimes Series #1)

by Paul Stewart, Chris Riddell

Overview

BARNABY GRIMES IS a tick-tock lad, running errands in his city, day and night, and “highstacking” around the rooftops in search of new mysteries to solve. In this first adventure, Barnaby is attacked one night by an enormous dog and soon finds himself swept up in a world of crooked doctors, poor and ill-advised patients, strange tonics, and very expensive furs. . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780385751254
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	09/09/2008
Series:	Barnaby Grimes Series , #1
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)
Lexile:	1000L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell are the creators of the bestselling Edge Chronicles series and the Far-Flung Adventures. They both live in Brighton, England.

Editorial Reviews

This first book in a series about Barnaby Grimes, a Victorian England tick-tock lad, is very compelling. The opening paragraphs describe Barnaby painfully changing into a werewolf. Barnaby's job title of tick-tock lad refers to his having to collect and deliver information all over London. The fastest but also most dangerous way from point to point is over the roof tops, known as highstacking—also known as a good way to lose your life. Several of Barnaby's friends and acquaintances begin taking an elixir, or cordial, given to them by a seemingly reliable doctor, Dr. Cadwallader. The cordial makes them feel much stronger and years younger, but then strange things begin to happen and Barnaby becomes suspicious. On one highstacking trip he encounters a monstrous wolf, which he tricks into crashing through a skylight into a vat of boiling glue. Barnaby gets himself hired as Dr. Cadwallader's tick-tock lad and uncovers the good doctor's nefarious scheme to turn poor people into werewolves and then kill them for their newly sprouted luxurious coats which he then sells to an equally amoral woman haberdasher. Barnaby works with a scientist client on developing an anti-werewolf serum to save the last of the evil doctor's victims. Dr. Cadwallader turns Barnaby into a werewolf. Barnaby attacks the doctor—actually a centuries old werewolf hunter—who turns into a white werewolf. Dr. Cadwallader falls on the lethal injection he was planning for Barnaby and dies. The book is a fun read, but I had questions about Barnaby. How old is he? Where is his family? Why is someone from lower class Victorian England so well spoken? Chris Riddell's illustrations are great. Reviewer: SarahMaury Swan

Children's Literature - Sarah Maury Swan

Gr 5-8

Barnaby Grimes is a tick-tock lad-an all-purpose messenger whose "highstacking" route carries him rapidly over the city's rooftops. He is suspicious when retired coachman Old Benjamin tells him about a miraculous cure offered free by Doctor Cadwallader. Then Benjamin vanishes mysteriously, and that same full-moon night, Barnaby is attacked by a vicious, wolflike animal. After intercepting a tardy message to Benjamin about keeping a now-missed appointment, Barnaby visits the doctor, thinking the man might need a more reliable delivery service, especially since a missed treatment could result in "side effects of the most unfortunate kind." Sure enough, Cadwallader hires Barnaby to take similar notes to other patients, all poor, lonely people who disappear soon after. What is the sinister doctor up to-and what is his relationship with the owner of a fashionable fur salon? The setting resembles Sherlock Holmes's London as seen in a shadowed, slightly warped mirror. There are hansom cabs, high-gabled row houses, and foul rat-infested slums, but mad scientists hold sway and fiendish creatures lurk in odd corners. Eerie, angular black-and-white drawings complement the atmospheric text. Fans of the macabre will enjoy this first entry in a series by the "The Edge Chronicles" (Random) creators.-Elaine E. Knight, Lincoln Elementary Schools, IL

School Library Journal

The latest and best Stewart/Riddell collaboration to date is set in a pseudo-Victorian world of stovepipe hats, gamins and smog. Barnaby Grimes is a tick-tock lad by trade: Need a delivery as fast as possible? Barnaby is more than willing to high-stack it over the tops of the city just to send your message fast enough. One night, a near-miss with a nasty wolf on a roof during the light of the full moon and the mysterious disappearance of his friend Old Benjamin together convince Barnaby to investigate the seedy sections of his city and the even seedier secrets of high society. As a mystery, the book telegraphs its punches too obviously, but as an adventure tale it swoops and soars. The classic horror aspects of this werewolf tale may be a bit dark for younger readers, but for any kid who has enjoyed The Spiderwick Chronicles and their like, Stewart offers high-stepping exploits and derring-do aplenty. From the first gripping sentence onward, Barnaby will be sure to rake in the fans. (Horror. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews