Review ♦ Horns & Wrinkles

About the Book

How can you tell if a rivers under a spell? River trolls, rock trolls, blue-wing fairies, the usual suspects. The stretch of the Mississippi where Claire lives has rumors of them all, not that she’s ever spotted any. But then Claire’s cousin Duke takes a swim and sprouts a horn, a long, pointy, handsome thing. After that, Claire doesn’t have much choice but to believe that something rivery is going on, especially since she’s the only one who can help Duke lose his new addition.

 

 

My Thoughts  
In my giant bag, that tries so hard to pass as a fashionable hobo purse, I keep a little notebook that I use for jotting down book titles, authors or topics that I want to check out. If I see something mentioned more than once I add a little star along with the persons name whose mentioned it. That way the more stars something has the better the recommendation (or that’s my theory at least lol). But things can get complicated (because I’m OCD like that) and sometimes things get cross-referenced, this is what happened with Horns & Wrinkles. The note for this book was starred because of the awesome reviews I read at Books & Other Thoughts and Maw Books Blog, I also had a footnote below it stating that it was illustrated by Nicoletta Ceccoli who I became interested in after reading about her on Nymeth's blog. (this is totally unrelated to the book itself, but I always find it interesting how a book makes it onto a person’s reading list)

Horns & Wrinkles centers on two main characters, Claire and Duke, they’re cousins but act more like brother and sister. When the story first begins they are in the middle of quite a quarrel, well actually Duke is being a complete ass by holding Claire over the side of a bridge threatening to drop her into the river below. What ends up happening is Claire gently floats down to safely land upon a boat being glided along the water by an old woman. Duke on the other hand, doesn’t meet such a safe outcome and ends up with a nose that may look a little too much like a rhino horn! Something rivery is definitely happening to him.

The story continues on as Claire vows to help her cousin Duke escape his horned and wrinkled fate, despite the fact that he’s a total jerk. Although this is the main plotline of the Horns & Wrinkles, there are many other plots introduced and moving along with the kids quest to defeat Duke’s river-magic cursed nose-horn. There are the river trolls and rock trolls with their own missions, family members that encounter rivery things and hold secrets that will help the kids out, and a magical history of this river that unravels some mysteries for Claire and Duke.

Horns & Wrinkles is a terrific book, well-written and paced wonderfully to hold the readers attention. Also the beginning of each chapter features a gorgeous illustration by Nicoletta Ceccoli (squeee!) that portrays some of the characters and/or happenings – I’m a huge fan of her artwork, so you’ll just have to trust me when I say that the pictures she’s drawn capture the feel of this book perfectly. Altogether a fun, interesting read and even though this is stated as a book for ages 9-12 I think it could be enjoyed by younger and older.

About The Author
Joseph Helgerson grew up in the river town of Winona, Minnesota, fishing the sloughs, camping the sandbars, and hiking the bluffs. He eventually swam upstream far enough to reach the University of Minnesota, where campus is split in half by the Mississippi and where he received a degree in American studies. After a few dry years out West, he's returned to Minnesota, where he can frequently be found admiring the fall of Saint Anthony and other rivery sights, sounds, and smells.

About The Illustrator
Nicoletta Ceccoli is the illustrator of many acclaimed picture books published around the world. She was awarded the Silver Medal in 2006 by the Society of Illustrators in New York, and in 2001 she won the Andersen Prize, honoring her as the best children’s book illustrator in Italy. Ms. Ceccoli has illustrated, among other titles, An Island in the Sun, written by Stella Blackstone; The Girl In The Castle Inside the Museum, written by Kate Bernheimer; and The Barefoot Book of Fairy Tales, written by Malachy Doyle. She lives in the town where she was born – San Marino, Italy.

 

Title:	Horns & Wrinkles
Author:	Joseph Helgerson
Illustrator:	Nicoletta Ceccoli
Book Genre:	Children’s Fiction (9-12)
Book Type:	Hardcover 368 pages
Publisher:	Houghton Mifflin
Publication Date:	September 20066

Other Reviews
Books & Other Thoughts
Maw Books Blog
Nothing Of Importance
Here, There, and Everywhere 

Have you reviewed this book too?
Let me know and I’ll add your link to the list :)

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