The Train of Dark Wonders (The Train of Dark Wonders #1)

The late Henry “Pops” Harper’s Odditorium sticks out among the rose gardens in the sedate British village of Roseville. Only Pops’s plucky 11-year-old granddaughter Bess, who reads as white, appreciates the strange house and its quirky contents, which include a vicious doll, an albino alligator, and whispering flowers collected during Pops’s mysterious adventures. As the Odditorium’s new proprietor, Bess must find a way to raise money to keep the establishment open and procure magic beans to feed the ravenous flowers overtaking the building. Clues left by Pops lead Bess to an underground railway and a wondrous train, where Bess befriends a magical puppeteer, a violin-playing werewolf, and a sorceress. Traveling to the terrifying Candymaker’s Land of Halloween Sweets, Bess, like Dorothy in Oz, joins her trio of newfound friends to procure a ghostly gobstopper in the Candymaker’s dangerous domain. In helping her companions, Bess uncovers startling family secrets—and a way to save her beloved Odditorium. Abundant extraneous fantastical features occasionally overwhelm the delightfully twee plot. Nevertheless, the courageous, overlarge band of singularly gifted characters—particularly loyal Bess—will no doubt endear themselves to readers and have them anticipating the next installment of this topsy-turvy series opener by Bell (the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club series). Ages 8–up. Agent: Therese Coen, Susanna Lea Associates. (Aug.)