Pure Dead Wicked

Description

A second instalment in the life of the highly original Strega-Borgia family and their dungeon-dwelling pet beasts. With the slates of the StregaSchloss roof crumbling round their ears, the Strega-Borgia family, complete with staff and dungeon-dwelling beasts, is forced to decamp to a local hotel for Christmas. Bored of being cooped up with only his laptop for entertainment, Titus tries his own experiment in cyber-cloning, only to end up besieged by 500 miniature versions of himself and his sister Pandora. The beasts too are fed up at the hotel. Determined to return to StregaSchloss, Ffup the dragon, Sab the gryphon and friends set off cross-country, only occasionally distracted by the call of the wild . . . A superbly labyrinthine plot weaves together clones, kids, beasts and dodgy roofers with great humour and a touch of magic in this highly acclaimed second novel.

Debi Gliori is the author and illustrator of many books for children, including the very popular Mr Bear series. She won the Children's Book Award picture book section, and was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1997. Her backlist in Doubleday/Corgi includes Tell Me Something Happy Before I Go to Sleep and The Very Small. Pure Dead Magic, which introduced the Strega-Borgias, was her first novel. It was followed by Pure Dead Wicked, Pure Dead Brilliant, Deep Trouble, Deep Water and Deep Fear. Debi lives in Scotland, near Edinburgh.

A wildly entertaining, over-the-top, exuberant brew of domestic upheaval, Strega-Borgia style. Gliori knows family interaction and she relates it with gusto, her skill as a storyteller characterised by her ability to take what her readers will know and wrap it up as something extraordinary * Scotsman * A breezy combination of wild charicature, computer-savvy contemporary sensibility and lavatorial jokes that should appeal to nine to twelve year olds * The Sunday Times * Adopts a relentless narrative pace. There's only one tempo permitted - fast-forward . . . Wonderful read-aloud material * TES * Terrific invention, magic, jokes and an excellent narrative style * Daily Telegraph *