Bookverdict.com

Gr 4–6—Strong characterizations and a good dose of spookiness are standouts in this illustrated novel. After a strange boy named Nick rescues her from bullies, Frank begins a cautious friendship with her unpopular classmate. When she hears mysterious and beautiful music coming from Nick's cellar, Frank secretly investigates. She discovers a "leechway" that acts as a door to alternate realities. Nick's nonhuman mother lives in one of them; so do creepy "stick-creatures" who seem eager ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

When she's rescued from a gang of bullies by Nicholas Underbridge, Frank (short for Francesca) Patel is relieved but horrified. Relieved to escape; horrified that weird Nick, the school outcast, has helped her. And Nick's home life is even stranger than Frank could have imagined: when he invites her home, she hears beautiful music issuing from the basement--music composed and played by a troll-like creature, "mountainous and gray, mossy-eared and flat-faced." This is Nick's mother, a being who lives in a world only occasionally ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

When she's rescued from a gang of bullies by Nicholas Underbridge, Frank (short for Francesca) Patel is relieved but horrified. Relieved to escape; horrified that weird Nick, the school outcast, has helped her. And Nick's home life is even stranger than Frank could have imagined: when he invites her home, she hears beautiful music issuing from the basement--music composed and played by a troll-like creature, "mountainous and gray, mossy-eared and flat-faced." This is Nick's mother, a being who lives in a world only occasionally ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More