New Releases by Polly Horvath

By turns dark and humorous, Horvath offers adolescent readers enough quirky characters and outrageous situations to leave them reeling.

Eleven-year-old Primrose living in a small fishing village in British Columbia recounts her experiences and all that she learns about human nature and the unpredictability of life in the months after her parents are lost at sea.

Laugh-out-loud stories within a story Aunt Sally is beyond any of Melissa, Amanda, and Pee Wee''s expectations. She has come all the way from Vancouver Island, Canada, to take care of the children while their parents are away, and right from the start Aunt Sally enchants them with tales of her childhood with their father. Odd characters figure largely in the stories, like Maud, a hunter rumored to have killed eighty cougars; Great-uncle Louis, a health nut who insists everyone should gnaw on sticks for extra fiber; and Fat Little Mean Girl, the star of a cautionary tale involving witchcraft and candy. All of Aunt Sally''s reminiscences lead up to a crucial story about trolls, sinister creatures who supposedly lurked along the shore at night. The trolls had the power to change Aunt Sally''s life forever, and their legacy may change the lives of the three present-day children as well.

A hilarious satire on small-town prejudice It all started with the Halibuts. Then came Elmira Degoochy the snake lady. Then the Flying Gambinis -- all seven of them and their mother. And Mrs. Harrison the fortune-teller, and Mr. Wydel the strongman . . . These are the new residents of Springfield, the formerly peaceful Midwestern town where up to now young Ivy''s life had been pretty uneventful. Ivy becomes fast friends with Alfred Halibut, who is an aspiring writer like herself and the son of a circus publicity manager. She also befriends the other circus people who have moved into town. But many of her neighbors are not feeling kindly about this invasion of strange characters. Tensions somersault into a climactic tangle at the Springfield bake-off. In the midst of hurtling pies, one voice alone can bring peace and tolerance back to the community. When the Circus Came to Town is Polly Horvath''s funniest novel to date, packed with vivid exaggeration and slapstick scenarios.

Hortense worries that her family is falling apart, but as she gets to know her Aunt Kate and makes a new friend, she discovers that change isn''t always bad.