Elliot's first day of school turns out to be more than he bargained for.Elliot Eisnerskinny and pale with curly brown hairis a bit nervous about being the new kid. Thankfully, he hits it off with fellow new student, "punk rock"-looking Uchenna Devereaux, a black girl with twists (though they actually look like dreads in Aly's illustrations). On a first-day field trip to New Jersey's Pine Barrens, the pair investigates a noise in the trees. The cause? A Jersey Devil: a blue-furred, red-bellied and -winged mythical creature that looks like "a tiny dragon" with cloven hooves, like a deer's, on its hind feet. Unwittingly, the duo bonds with the creature by feeding it, and it later follows them back to the bus. Unsurprisingly, they lose the creature (which they alternately nickname Jersey and Bonechewer), which forces them to go to their intimidating, decidedly odd teacher, Peruvian Professor Fauna, for help in recovering it. The book closes with Professor Fauna revealing the truthhe heads a secret organization committed to protecting mythical creaturesand inviting the children to join, a neat setup for what is obviously intended to be a series. The predictable plot is geared to newly independent readers who are not yet ready for the usual heft of contemporary fantasies. A brief history lesson given by a mixed-race associate of Fauna's in which she compares herself to the American "melting pot" manages to come across as simultaneously corrective and appropriative.Fantasy training wheels for chapter-book readers. (Fantasy. 7-10) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Kicking off the Unicorn Rescue Society series is a middle grade story filled with twists and turns and narrated in a fresh, fun style. Gidwitz (The Inquisitor¿s Tale) introduces animal enthusiast and basically ¿normal kid,¿ Elliot Eisner, whose first day at his new school is anything but ordinary. His class takes a field trip to the New Jersey Pine Barrens, a forested area on the coast. On the bus ride, he befriends Uchenna Devereaux, who also started school late the previous year. While in the Pine Barrens with Miss Vole (their teacher), classmates, and a visiting instructor, the secretive and strange Professor Fauna, they hear of superstitions and tales that turn out to be real after Elliot and Uchenna come across a mysterious creature. The encounter ultimately leads them to the Unicorn Rescue Society, a group of adventurers committed to protecting mythological animals from the likes of the Schmoke brothers, two dastardly businessmen. Gidwitz delivers a quick-witted fantasy focused on supposedly imaginary creatures and finding like-minded friends, told from Elliot¿s fresh, young perspective. Though Elliot and Uchenna¿s burgeoning friendship and cooperation are emphasized, a more subtle lesson about fallibility and recovering from mistakes demonstrates slightly more complex, and necessary, life skills. Ages 8¿up. Agent: Sarah Burnes, Gernert Co. (Apr.)

The premise is rich: How does one survive, let alone smile, in a world he feels desperately bound to leave? At 52 years old (a tween in a dwarf's life cycle), Borlen is a worry to his parents and a whipping boy among his gem-crunching peers. The scenes of his marginalization are painful and true - always the pebble, never the geode in games of Pebble, Pebble, Geode. When he escapes to the forbidden Surface, and allies himself with Queen Elfrieda Veronika Ingrid Lenore (E.V.I.L.), Grump convinces himself he's finally living his best life. But then his new bud starts kidnapping babies and demanding the murder of her stepdaughter, Snow White, and he's back under a dark cloud. Shurtliff excels at turning familiar worlds on their heads. The underground dwarf culture is wonderfully realized, and Grump's fascination with the Surface well drawn. She might have had more fun digging deeper and more consistently into Grump's earned foul spirit. But her Snow White is fresh, a little snotty but highly capable, with far more grit than her Prince. Together, Grump and the Princess are a welcome reminder that heroes needn't be perfect to get the job done. IN THE FIRST BOOK in Adam Gidwitz's new series, UNICORN RESCUESOCIETY: The Creature of the Pines (Dutton, 163 pp., $14.99; ages 7 to io), admission into the highly exclusive Unicorn Rescue Society requires pledging allegiance to the existence and protection of all things mythical: unicorn, chupacabra, mermaid - the creatures young children want as pets yet forever feel denied. It's an easy, fun hook for readers, who will likely see themselves in either the nervous and pale new kid at school, Elliot, or edgy Uchenna, a black girl with twists who first strikes Elliot as a "punk rock Beethoven." On a field trip into the New Jersey Pine Barrens, the two stumble on a tiny blue dragonlike creature tangled in a pink ribbon. They pacify him with an almond bar and try to keep him hidden from their foreboding social studies teacher, Professor Fauna, who's like a cross between Gandalf and Christopher Lloyd's Doc Brown. Admittedly, there's a sense of throatclearing to this series debut by Gidwitz (who won a Newbery Honor for "The Inquisitor's Tale"). The blue Jersey devil mostly remains zipped up in Uchenna's backpack, the villains hastily introduced and escaped from within a few pages, and the greater mission still unclear and ahead. Consider the book more a promise of grand adventures than one in the hand. But the rapport between nebbishy Elliot and impulsive Uchenna is already terrific, and the sight of a black girl's natural hair on the cover of a mainstream middle-grade book- the illustrations are by Hatem Aly - is something of a unicorn sighting itself. ??, HOW ODD and wonderful children will love a perfectly odd and wonderful little book by the acclaimed Scottish novelist A. L. Kennedy, uncle shawn and bill and THE ALMOST ENTIRELY UNPLANNED ADVENTURE (Kane Miller, 191 pp., $5.99; ages 7 to 10). Kennedy lets loose a zany adventure in which a handsome badger is kidnapped by the miserable McGloone family, which keeps a cupboard of knives for every wretched occasion from "peeling penguins" to "dicing goldfish." Also on the McGloone chopping block are four depressed llamas who are soon to be turned into llama puddings and dumplings and possibly even a handbag for the meaty matriarch Myrtle McGloone. Everyone's rescue depends on a crazyhaired, kindhearted uncle (whose uncle he is isn't revealed, because Kennedy delights in wordplay and wit, and appreciates the absurdity of unanswered questions) who has a faithful mole in one pocket of his tweed jacket and some cheese crackers in the other. Uncle Shawn has a half-baked plan to save the day, and hopes in the process to find himself the pleasure of new friends. The climax of escape is indeed a triumph, with the McGloones meeting an end befitting their outrageous terribleness. But the real fun here is the divinely cracked world Kennedy creates, matched nicely with Gemma Correll's very funny illustrations. Yes, please, to the villainous McGloone sisters and their eyes "like old, bad eggs" and "thick, greasy, left-over-sausage kind of lips." And to the nasty McGloone children named Fred, Dusty, Bettina, Socket Wrench and Small. And to random asides on matters like Things That Make a Wasp Giggle. Kennedy's ability to uncork all this cockamamie and turn it into an artful, and quite dear, breeze of a tale is a delight. Why shouldn't a badger who likes to snack on hot chocolate and lettuce sandwiches become best friends with a lonely and heroic grown man? THERE'S A GREAT respectful nod to "E.T." in BOB (Feiwel and Friends, 208 pp., $16.99; ages 7 to 10, the first joint effort of the powerhouse middle-grade authors Wendy Mass (the Twice Upon a Time series) and Rebecca Stead ("When You Reach Me"). A guileless green creature named Bob - who knows for sure that he's not a zombie, and is only pretending at being a chicken in his badly patched-together suit - lives in the attic of an old woman's house in the drought-ridden Australian outback. When 10-year-old Livy returns to visit her Gran after a five-year absence Bob is thrilled, if a little miffed, to be reunited with his only friend. "You're back. Took you long enough," he tells a stunned Livy, who's completely forgotten about her not-zombie friend. And he's quite unimpressed with how she's aged into a stammering, befuddled tween. "Livy was the kind of 5-year-old who could get things done." The chapters are told alternately from their points of view. Livy and Bob struggle to piece together just who and what Bob is, how he ended up in Gran's closet, and if there's any hope of him ever returning home. The heart of this wistful book comes from the loss of memories: Livy's of their younger friendship, and Bob's of his former life. How does one hang on to the innocence and wonder of childhood when the world conspires to drum it out of us? But these friends do find tethers to their forgotten selves - Livy a black chess piece that she keeps in her pocket to remind her of Bob's existence in the world, and Bob a copy of "Fairy and Folk Tales From A to Z" that proves he too has a past that claims him. The story's momentum flounders occasionally, with a little too much of Bob spinning in circles waiting on Livy and a couple of wooden plot machinations, but the ending is pure enchantment. It's the type of satisfying closure that makes a reader want to turn right back to Page 1 now that she knows how the whole puzzle fits together. It's hero's work trying to find one's inner child. It takes Livy a little green dude who's counted to 9,876,543,210 many times in her absence. ? KAREN VALBY is the author of "Welcome to Utopia: Notes From a Small Town."

The Newbery Honor Book team behind The Inquisitor's Tale (2016) reunites to bring young readers the breezy Unicorn Rescue Society series. In this inaugural adventure, Elliott's new-school nerves are calmed slightly when he is befriended by Uchenna, a half Nigerian girl with a punk-rock vibe, on his first day. They stick together on a field trip to the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, led by the terrifying social studies teacher Professor Fauna, and stumble upon a bizarre blue creature tangled in some ribbon. After freeing the animal (no easy feat!), it proceeds to follow them home and wreak havoc in the city. In an unlikely partnership, the new friends team up with Professor Fauna to try to catch the rogue animal. Gidwitz has written a rollicking tale with engaging characters and an irresistible premise involving a secret society dedicated to protecting mythical creatures. Aly's artwork, though unseen, will appear liberally throughout the text, further extending its appeal. Consider having Maggie Stiefvater's Pip Bartlett series on hand to tide readers over until the next installment arrives. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: There are big plans for this little book, including a national author tour and deluxe floor display.--Smith, Julia Copyright 2018 Booklist

Created by Jesse Casey, Adam Gidwitz, and Chris Smith. This collaboratively created series--told through the two newest members of a worldwide society of misfits dedicated to saving mythical creatures--is witty, fast-paced, hilarious, and great fun. Starring upper-elementary-age New Jersey kids Elliot and Uchenna, each book focuses on a different creature in need of protection. Abundant black-and-white drawings spotlight the zany characters and add to the laughs. [Review covers these Unicorn Rescue Society titles: The Basque Dragon, The Creature of the Pines, and Sasquatch and the Muckleshoot.] (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.