The Robe of Skulls (The Five Kingdoms Series #1) by Vivian French, Ross Collins (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

Fire up your cauldron for an exuberant, fast-moving, wildly entertaining tale with a cast of characters who are good, bad, and very, very ugly.

High above the mountain village of Fracture, trouble is brewing. The sorceress Lady Lamorna wants a skull-studded gown of deep black velvet, but her treasure chest is empty of gold. That doesn’t stop her, however — from kidnapping, blackmailing, and using more than a little magic to get what she needs. Will her plans be foiled by the heroic Gracie Gillypot, two chatty bats, a gallant (if scruffy) prince, the wickedest stepsister ever, a troll with a grudge, and some very ancient crones? Humorously macabre and wickedly illustrated in black and white, THE ROBE OF SKULLS is truly a scream.

Publishers Weekly

Take a bedraggled, evil sorceress with a dire need for gold and a dimwitted troll for a sidekick, an impish prince with a goody-two-shoes twin brother, a noble-hearted yet naïve young maiden and her conniving stepsister with a chip on her perfectly slim shoulder, throw them into a screwball fairytale, and the result approximates French's (the Tiara Club series) latest. Intersecting plotlines map each of the four major characters' individual journeys over the brambly hill and through the enchanted woods until their fortunes collide for better or for worse at-what else?-a ball. What follows is as wacky as it is entertaining: as princes galore are zapped into frogs, quirky elements like mazes that change direction and talking bats move the story along. As any fairytale fan knows, there's always a happy ending to look forward to, and this one doesn't disappoint. The elaborate b&w sketches, on the safe side of macabre, add to the fun. Ages 7-9. (July)

Children's Literature

Lady Lamorna, the powerful sorceress of Fracture Castle, must have a new gown made of black velvet and decorated with skulls, spider webs and poison ivy. After ordering her dress from the Ancient Crones, and discovering that she has run out of gold, Lady Lamorna concocts a terrible plan to bring her riches once again and guarantee her dress will be delivered on time. Her plan, otherwise known as "Prince. Zap! Frog," is to capture all the nearby princes, turn them into frogs, and blackmail the kings and queens for gold in exchange for turning them back into humans again. On her way to kidnapping the princes, Lady Lamorna runs into the very beautiful but heartless Foyce Undershaft. With a heart more evil than Lamorna's and a brain far more intelligent, Foyce might just turn out to be the perfect assistant Lamorna needs to succeed in her plan; then again, she might just turn out to be the kind of character who would blackmail the blackmailer. Unknown to Lamorna and Foyce, fate is working against them in the form of a poor but heroic girl, Gracie Gillypot, and a disobedient but brave prince, Marcus. Will these two unsuspecting heroes be able to stop Lady Lamorna and Foyce from their evil plan before it's too late? French spins a truly unique and quick-paced story, complete with comical bats, reluctant heroines, wicked stepsisters, and a really ugly, but maybe not so evil, troll. The writing is clever coupled with the comical tone and swift action plot sure to enchant readers. Collins's black and white illustrations add visual comedy as well as heighten the grim fairy-tale quality of the book. Reviewer: Melissa Joy Adams

Kirkus Reviews

Conceiving a burning desire for a new gown-black velvet, decorated with poison ivy, spider webs and skulls-wicked Lady Lamorna decides to pay for it by turning all the local princes into frogs and extracting ransoms from their royal parents. She gets help on the way from the considerably more clever Foyce Undershaft, a young lady of stunning beauty and "a heart as hard as a frying pan," who is also the evil stepsister of kindly Gracie Gillypot. Enter Marlon, a bat who addresses young folk as "kiddo" and is forever flitting off with a "Ciao!" to deliver messages or orchestrate some dodgy deal. Thanks to his efforts Gracie hooks up with Marcus, a scruffy prince missed in the general amphibious transformation, to rescue the other princes and to trick Foyce into entering a magical sort of rehabilitation program. Lady Lamorna even gets her gown, in the end. Larded with stock comical characters and illustrated with Collins's gangly, Beardsley-esque line drawings, the story will slip down like the bonbon it is. (Fantasy. 10-12)

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