The Dastardly Deed

Starred review from October 15, 2015
Aspiring detective/veterinarian/artist Anastasia McCrumpet's escape from vile St. Agony's Asylum leads to radical changes of fortune, status, mission, and even name in this revelation-packed sequel to The League of Beastly Dreadfuls (2015). Having been taken to the subterranean city of Nowhere Special (beneath the Swiss Alps), Anastasia learns not only that she's a princess of the royal Merrymoon family, but that her grandfather Nicodemus has a special tattoo that could help her find her missing father. But Nicodemus too is missing--locked in an invisible casket at the start of a centuries-old war between witches and the shape-changing Morfolk. Calling on all the sleuthing skills learned from her fictional heroine Francie Dewdrop and hardly slowed by either snotty cousin Saskia or her own "tragic flatulence," Anastasia sets out in search of clues to the eponymous Deed through a dizzying array of gleefully baroque distractions. Clues indeed do turn up, along with both old and new members for Anastasia's allied League of Beastly Dreadfuls, awful hazards like thought-eating "mooncooties," and many references to poop, vomit, waffles, bats, cupcakes with glow-in-the-dark mushroom filling, silly powdered wigs, and like diversions. Finished illustrations not seen. A fine middle volume, lit up with "laughs and tears and the occasional fart joke." (wig information and quiz appended) (Fantasy. 10-12)

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 1, 2015

Gr 4-6-Picking up right where The League of Beastly Dreadfuls (Random, 2015) ended, this title opens as Anastasia crashes (quite literally) into her new home in Nowhere Special only to find that she is actually someone quite different than she thought: she has a different last name and is a princess. Outfitted in a perfectly uncomfortable wig and too many layers of crinoline, Anastasia is not ready for the Pettifog Academy of Impressionable Young Minds. It only becomes manageable when her Shadowboy friends, Quentin and Ollie, finally appear at school. The League of Beastly Dreadfuls is reunited with the addition of Gus, a halfhearted Gorgon whom Anastasia befriends. As she attempts to learn Echolalia so she can communicate with her attendant bat, Pippistrella, and learn comportment from her snooty aunt, Ludowiga, Anastasia begins to piece together the past history of her family, including the Dastardly Deed. It happened hundreds of years before, when relations between the Morfolk (her family, who can change into creatures) and magical witches turned from amicable to nasty. Anastasia's grandfather was locked in a Silver Chest from which he could not escape by the clever and evil witch Calixto Swift. And there he remains. Even though Anastasia has promised her concerned Aunt Penny and her lovable Uncle Baldwin that she would not get into trouble or try to solve the mystery of the Dastardly Deed, she greatly misses her father (who was evidently not a boring vacuum salesman, but a prince who had the unusual ability to transform into a guinea pig) and might have to break her promise. She begins to realize that locating the Silver Hammer and the Silver Chest that contains her grandfather might be the only way to find her father. The League of Beastly Dreadfuls is called into action. Dangerous and secret adventures ensue: bats are put to sleep, strange dreams are entered, mirror twins are discovered, mice are released (and used for science experiments), zero gravity chambers are visited, Wish Hags are discovered (and released), and dream bugs are eaten. With the creation of a different world and the addition of new, and somewhat strange, characters, this adventure is as exciting as the first. The same narrator who speaks to readers is back and adds a sarcastic and warning tone to the book. Black-and-white illustrations are sprinkled throughout. VERDICT A series that is worth continuing (or starting) and that is Something Special.-Clare A. Dombrowski, Amesbury Public Library, MA

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2016
Having escaped kidnappers in the first book, Anastasia is taken to her family's secret subterranean home, where she learns of her royal lineage and of the Dastardly Deed that imprisoned her grandfather. With help from Ollie, Quentin, and a Gorgon named Gus, Anastasia embarks on a hilarious, magic-filled quest for the Silver Hammer that can free her grandfather. Whimsical black-and-white illustrations appear throughout.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)