Alternative Worlds
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Johnny and the Dead
Terry Pratchett
HarperCollins, Jan 2006, $15.99
ISBN: 0060541881
The town council wants to sell off the historical cemetery to a developer. They insist that no one except an old woman visits the place and it is expensive to keep it up. They do not know that twelve years old Johnny Maxwell uses it as a short cut and that he has personally met and talked with some of the vertically challenged residents such as the Alderman. The deceased people interred there are irate that their final resting place is to be bulldozed and refuse to lie around letting it happen. They draft Johnny as their spokesperson.
Johnny enlists his friends like Wobbler Johnson, who thinks the whole thing is nuts but will help his pal. Their efforts to publicize the history are ignored as no one remotely famous is buried there; in some ways even with names on stones it is sort of a Potter’s Field. The dead are no longer going to take it so they plan to kill the project before their bones are rattled except that they cannot agree on a plan. Only Johnny can bring the two parties together, but neither the dead nor the living heed the words of a preadolescent.
The sequel to ONLY YOU CAN SAVE MANKIND is a terrific amusing satirical fantasy that is fun for readers of all ages. Johnny is the center of the story line that holds together the graveyard humor with his family escapades and the townsfolk plots of future development. Perhaps the only quibble for adult readers is the fast climax, but remember the targeted audience is the preadolescent crowd who will laugh out loud at the ironic dark humor.
Terry Pratchett
HarperCollins, Jan 2006, $15.99
ISBN: 0060541881
The town council wants to sell off the historical cemetery to a developer. They insist that no one except an old woman visits the place and it is expensive to keep it up. They do not know that twelve years old Johnny Maxwell uses it as a short cut and that he has personally met and talked with some of the vertically challenged residents such as the Alderman. The deceased people interred there are irate that their final resting place is to be bulldozed and refuse to lie around letting it happen. They draft Johnny as their spokesperson.
Johnny enlists his friends like Wobbler Johnson, who thinks the whole thing is nuts but will help his pal. Their efforts to publicize the history are ignored as no one remotely famous is buried there; in some ways even with names on stones it is sort of a Potter’s Field. The dead are no longer going to take it so they plan to kill the project before their bones are rattled except that they cannot agree on a plan. Only Johnny can bring the two parties together, but neither the dead nor the living heed the words of a preadolescent.
The sequel to ONLY YOU CAN SAVE MANKIND is a terrific amusing satirical fantasy that is fun for readers of all ages. Johnny is the center of the story line that holds together the graveyard humor with his family escapades and the townsfolk plots of future development. Perhaps the only quibble for adult readers is the fast climax, but remember the targeted audience is the preadolescent crowd who will laugh out loud at the ironic dark humor.
