ODDEST OF ALL

To the short stories gathered in Odds Are Good: An Oddly Enough and Odder Than Ever Omnibus (2006) Coville adds nine more: six previously published but revised, and three newbies. Except for 13-year-old Murphy Murphy’s hilarious experience on stage in “What’s the Worst That Could Happen?” all are fantasies—most featuring ghosts or other supernatural entities, occasional puns (“The Mask of Eamon Tiyado”—think Edgar Allan Poe) and tests of character that may, for instance, be successfully weathered by young Dennis Juggarum “In the Frog King’s Court” but are decidedly not by “Herbert Hutchison in the Underworld.” Characters from two of the author’s novels appear in “The Ghost Let Go.” Punctuated with poignant or tragic notes but light in overall tone, this gathering nicely demonstrates both Coville’s versatility and his broad appeal to young audiences. (Short stories. 11-13)