CLEMENCY POGUE: THE HOBGOBLIN PROXY

This sharp and witty second installment in Petty’s series quickly and efficiently brings readers up to speed on Clemency’s continuing role in saving the fantastical and vividly drawn world of Make-Believe. Clemency, the intelligent and plucky heroine, partners with Chaphesmeeso, a friendly hobgoblin, and Kennethurchin, a fledgling hobgoblin, to search for Kennethurchin’s changeling, Inky, who is his key to full hobgoblin status. However, having lived nine years as a boy, Inky has other ideas, which could spell disaster for Kennethurchin and Make-Believe. Although on Make-Believe’s side, Clemency struggles with the idea that ultimately finding Inky means his death and she hatches an alternate plan, executed, but not completely wrapped up, making a tantalizing cliffhanger for the series’ third volume. Though a slim text featuring sporadic black-and-white sketches and approachable vocabulary looks younger, heavy topics of mental illness, abandonment and Inky’s impending death suit this creative tale for mature readers. (Fiction. 9-12)