We instantly fell in love with Amelia Fang, the tiny-winged and vampire-fanged daughter of Countess Frivoleeta and Count Drake III.
Amelia and her family, including her pet, "Squashy," a pumpkin that can move and eat but doesn't talk, have to prepare for the family Halloween night dance, the Barbaric Ball, the social event of the season in Nocturnia.
Around the same time, Prince Tangine, the spoiled brat of the kingdom, joins Amelia at her night school, along with her friends Grimaldi (a little grim reaper who cleans up mass animal disasters) and Florence, who is most emphatically NOT a beast -- she's a rare breed of Yeti.
Tangine is a bully, but Amelia grinds her fangs and bears it because her skeleton teacher asks her to be nice to him and show him around.
Amelia's family plays host to the King of Nocturnia and Prince Tangine the night before the Ball, and Tangine throws a hissy fit when he sees Squashy. Amelia's parents cave in, and although it breaks her heart, they allow him to leave with Amelia's beloved Squashy.
How will she ever get him back? When a thinly-veiled attempt at pretending to be Tangine's friend fails, Amelia's left wondering if she'll ever get her best pet back -- and what kind of creature of the dark, exactly, is Tangine? The answer may change Tangine forever!
A really cute middle grade read for the month of October.
Amelia, Tangine, Grimaldi and Florence have all learned that Tangine is half-fairy from the Kingdom of the Light, and "fairies did not steal your fangs and unicorns did not shoot killer rainbows from their butts."
They decide to follow a rainbow to the magical city of the light, Glitteropolis, to help Tangine find his missing mother, the fairy Fairyweather.
The friends disguise themselves as unicorns. They make it to Glitteropolis, but not all is as it seems. While the unicorns don't shoot killer rainbows from their butts, they're downright sneaky, and as leaders of Glitteropolis, they've got a nefarious reason to keep the creatures of the Light and Dark at each other's throats.
Can Amelia uncover the conspiracy, break the unicorns' strong grip over Glitteropolis and unite the two kingdoms once again?
Another fun Amelia read for October!
Amelia and friends go camping this time, determined to earn their badges from their camp leaders, the two unicorn guards from the last book, Graham and Ricky.
They start with a little friendly boat rowing race to an island. In an effort to earn the Food Foraging Badge, they scout the island and find a fig tree. Almost immediately, everything shrinks to insect-size -- literally.
Amelia and all her friends meet the king of Buggingtonshire, King Jamie, a horned bumblebee, and learned that when they ate the tree's figs, they may have earned a badge, but were cursed to insect-sizes.
Can Amelia and her friends figure out how to break the curse and return to their normal sizes? Even if it involves solving a puzzle that has remained unsolved for decades?
We enjoyed Amelia and her creatures of the dark gang's latest adventure!
And this book was how we entered Amelia's series.
Amelia and Squashy are holed up happily in her bedroom with a copy of Positively Pumpkin and coming up with costumes, when her mother interrupts and disapproves highly of the mess and Amelia's desire to become a pumpkinologist. She's afraid her mother will just never understand her, and it's downright depressing.
Meanwhile, she and her friends are now attending Catacomb Academy during the day, with other children from the kingdom of the light, and they have a new fairy teacher from Glitteropolis, Mr. Sublime. He's a baker, and he gives his students a new cookie recipe to try out with ingredients Amelia's never worked with before.
Amelia can't taste her own baked-goods because of a sore fang, and Tangine gets a sore tummy from eating too many Scream Cheese Boogers and doesn't eat any, but she happily supplies the cookies to Florence and Grimaldi.
Who promptly lose their memories.
And at the same time, blue forget-me-not flower petals stream over Nocturnia, filling the air with their scent.
Unrelated events? Heck no! Amelia Fang solves the mystery and... I won't spoil it! Read for yourself how she saves the day, Nocturnia and everyone's memories, once again.
There are other books in this series, we just haven't gotten to them quite yet. Enjoy!
Sew Your Own "Squashy" Family!
"Squashy" inspired me to sew these Day of the Dead squashies in the photo above for my family. Here's the super-simple pattern and instructions. I sewed all three in one day. :-)
Awesome Pumpkin Soup Recipe!
And, when you're done with your real squashies for the season, or if you've ever wondered what to do with those cute pie pumpkins that show up at the grocery store this month, here's our favorite Spiced Pumpkin Soup recipe. It's a perennial hit!
