The Orphan of Awkward Falls

by Keith Graves

When thirteen-year-old Josephine moves to Awkward Falls she can't help but snoop around the dilapidated mansion next door. Inevitably, she is captured by the house s strange inhabitants: an ancient automaton who serves as a butler, a cat patched together with a few odd parts, and most surprising of all, a boy named Thaddeus Hibble. Meanwhile, Fetid Stenchley the most feared patient in the Asylum for the Dangerously Insane is on the loose after making a dramatic escape, and there is only one thing on his mind...revenge. Unfortunately for Josephine and Thaddeus, he s headed their way. Can these unlikely friends stop Stenchley before it's too late? With a penchant for spooky details, surprising twists, and haunting illustrations, Keith Graves delivers a suspenseful and engaging first novel.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Mystery, Childrens, Fiction, Young Adult

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 19, 2011

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book sounded like a lot of fun for my kids and I just in time for Halloween. It touts a whimsically grotesque villain, an eccentric mad scientist (who just happens to be a young orphan boy), a robot butler, a talking cat and a lot of adventure. The illustrations looked creepy and the premise sounded fun.

The publishers indicate that this book is aimed at 8-12 year old kids. From the first pages of the book, I must adamantly say that age range is WRONG! There is no way I'd want my nearly 8 year old daughter reading this. Even with my 10 and 11 year old sons, I'd be worried that there are segments that are too gruesome, too violent, too graphic.

Am I being an overly protective and highly sensitive parent? Maybe a little, but I don't think I'm overreacting too much when I say this book should have a distinct PG-13 rating for violence and grotesque scenes of horror. I'm open to the idea of gross elements of horror or just creepy scenes or descriptions. But for kids not yet in their teens, let's keep that horror at the level of R.L. Stine's Goosebumps books. This book goes a bit too far.

Putting the erroneous age rating aside, this was a pretty fun book. The illustrations were great. Although the placement of the illustrations felt a bit odd…rather than being on the facing page for the scene they described, they were usually a page prior or after and sometimes the illustrations were all at the beginning or end of a chapter and felt disconnected from the scene they were trying to illustrate.

The mysterious plot was intriguing and had me anxiously searching for answers along with the characters. While there were a lot of stereotypical tropes in this northern Canadian town, it served as a vivid backdrop for the adventure. The scenes were tight and fast paced. Even when largely unbelievable, I felt my heart race as the characters struggled to solve the mystery and survive.

There was a disconnect for me in the cheesy and juvenile humor as compared with the gruesome horror and violence in other scenes. It was as though this book couldn't decide whether to be an adult horror book or a creepy kids book. Instead, it tried to straddle the fence by mixing together whimsically funny characters, names and actions alongside violently disturbing attacks and violence. The result felt somewhat schizophrenic.

While I had fun with this story and enjoyed the writing, I can't recommend it to my kids. Due to its very youthful tone, it would be a hard sell for my adult friends who read horror and thrillers. I guess that leaves it as a "teen" book, but I worry that teens might think this book is "too young" for them and prefer to jump up to weightier horror.

Still, if this book finds the right audience, it could be a success. It's got a creative story, solid writing and fun illustrations. I'm just worried that parents (or others) will see the silly images on the cover and pick this up for young readers only to be traumatized and offended.

***
3 out of 5 stars

[xander ツ · Rating 5 out of 5]

read this book as a kid and just remembered it and had to mark it read cause it shaped me as a child. 10/10

[TheBookSmugglers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally Reviewed on The Book Smugglers: http://thebooksmugglers.com/2011/08/j...

Thirteen year old Josephine Cravitz is determined to be mad. Her parents have uprooted her yet again – just as she was getting used to life and friends in balmy Madison, Wisconsin, she’s forced to move to what she thinks of as the Arctic Circle (aka the far reaches of northern Manitoba, Canada). In the small town of Awkward Falls, renowned for its sauerkraut (a strange-smelling delicacy for which there is a festival each year) and proximity to the Asylum for the Dangerously Insane, Josephine fully expects to be utterly bored for the remainder of her summer vacation. But when the family pulls up to their new home, an awesomely foreboding and deliciously mysterious mansion full of secrets from the past, Josephine has a hard time maintaining her act of sullen malaise. The first night in the her home Josephine sees a strange figure from her bedroom window and decides to investigate only to be taken prisoner to the dilapidated neighboring mansion by a rusty automaton. It is here that she meets her neighbor Thaddeus Hibble, a paranoid boy genius/mad scientist in training with a penchant for too many sweets and no personal hygiene. With no parents and only a robot butler named Norman and a talking, reanimated cat named Felix as his lone companions, Thaddeus has spent his days sleeping and his nights concocting mad and brilliant experiments. Josephine’s arrival throws Thaddeus’s peaceful – if unhygenic and not exactly happy – life into a tailspin, though, when she volunteers to help him discover the truth of his parents, grandfather, and his past.

As if things weren’t bad enough, there’s the matter of Fetid Stenchley – the most notorious and dangerous killer ever to be imprisoned in the neighboring Asylum. The cannibal Stenchley has escaped his prison and has one destination on his mind: the home of his former master (whom Stenchley murdered and partially ate), genius scientist Celsius T. Hibble – Thaddeus’s grandfather.

Of all the books in the lineup this week, The Orphan of Awkward Falls was my most highly anticipated. I love the blend of the macabre with comedy, and Mr. Graves’s novel had the promise of both in spades. Not only did the book have promise, however, it also delivered. The Orphan of Awkward Falls is one part Rick Yancey and one part Neil Gaiman, with notes of Roald Dahl in the mix. In short, I loved this book.

From a storytelling perspective, The Orphan of Awkward Falls is both charming and gruesome and all the more wonderful for its ability to temper darker themes with madcap hilarity. From the opening scene, this wonderful alchemy of the funny and the horrific sets the tone of the book, as the novel begins with the truly horrific and darkly funny “treatments” being inflicted on our villain, Fetid Stenchley in the Insane Asylum. In the style of Roald Dahl (who actually wrote some very scary stories when you stop to think about them), The Orphan of Awkward Falls continues with this irresistible combination of darkness and comedy – it’s in the sadness of a very lonely boy living in a dilapidated home overrun with vermin and mold and all kinds of nastiness, but also in the comedy that said lonely boy’s genius inventions and mad-scientist-in-training crazy attitude provides.

From a pure plotting perspective, there are many wonderful plot twists and turns over the course of the book – if you, like me, have a few pointed questions that you can’t shake early on in the book, I urge you to stick with it. ALL is explained in due course (and it’s all brilliant, too). I want to say more, but therein lie spoilers and I would not dream of depriving you, dear readers, of that journey. Rest assured that there are revelations aplenty in The Orphan of Awkward Falls, each one more dramatic than the last.

Just as the story was fantastic so too are the characters – in fact, it is the characterizations that make this book sing. I adored heroine Josephine with her true-to-tween calculated coolness, with her wonderful aubergine hat (appropriately named Eggplant), with her love of yoga/organic/health conscious living and her love for her parents. I loved Thaddeus and his hilarious petulance and his ability to simultaneously seem much older and much younger than his age (surely a byproduct of growing up as a genius with only an ancient automaton and a cat for company). I loved the slick, cool cat Felix with his 1930s gangster voice, and Norman the robot with a penchant for modern television and film. I even loved Fetid Stenchley and his Cynthia (the snake that lives in the hump on his back and urges him to eat people) – in a ‘I-love-you-cuz-you’re-a-great-character way, not in an I-love-you way. While Fetid Stenchley may be the most villainous insane criminal of all time, Mr. Graves gives him deeper layers and even some sympathy. When we learn about Cynthia, and when we learn about why Fetid is the way he is, it’s a sad thing.

I honestly can’t think of anything that I didn’t like about this wonderful book. The Orphan of Awkward Falls is a fantastic middle grade novel that delivers both laughs and chills, sure to be a hit for reluctant younger readers and more seasoned older ones alike. Absolutely recommended.

[BookishStitcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

A creepy middle grade novel about a mad scientist, his cannibalistic assistant, and their creepy mansion. These three elements crash into present day life in when a new family moves into Awkward Falls. The young daughter quickly befriends the strange boy next-door who lives in the creepy mansion where his grandfather was murder by his assistant, the cannibal Stenchley. This notorious madman begins the novel residing in the Asylum for the Dangerously Insane, but he doesn't stay there for long.

[Tami · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Orphan of Awkward Falls has me a little confused. Although I have classified it as fantasy/science fiction (and it certainly IS that) the story crosses the line into the horror genre. My confusion is not with the story, itself, but with how to write about it.

Would I recommend it? Not to everyone. There are some amazing characters: a genetically engineered child living on sugared and processed foods and being looked after by an ancient robot; Josephine, a twelve-year-old vegetarian newly relocated from Wisconsin whose curiosity alleviates her fear of boredom and puts her squarely in the path of an escaped murderer (who cannibalizes his victims); as well as the afore-mentioned mental asylum escapee whose humpback contains an evil python named Cynthia who may or may not be imaginary.

Chapter One begins:

The little town of Awkward Falls was known for two things: its canned sauerkraut and its insane asylum. Both had achieved notoriety for their repulsiveness. The canned sauerkraut contained cabbage, vinegar, and other appalling ingredients, the smell of which prevented most sane people from actually attempting to eat it. The Asylum for the Dangerously Insane contained insane murderers. Both were to be avoided at all costs, as one was likely to cause gas, and the other, death.

It is one of the best opening paragraphs for a story I have ever read. It has the humorous flavor I so appreciate in a well-plotted narrative and the promise of both action and eccentricity. The story maintains this tone well for the first three chapters, introducing us first to Fetid Stenchley, the madman imprisoned for the past ten years in the Asylum for the Dangerously Insane and then to Josephine, the young girl who will become the catalyst for what is yet to come.

After these first few chapters, however, the material takes a decidedly darker twist: the reader is privvy to a somewhat graphic and altogether inhuman “Treatment” given to Fetid Stenchley in front of an audience of dignitaries (and tourists). For some adults the scene may be too much, but could be tempered by the dark ironies we have experienced as adults concerning the mental health system and politics and voyeurism. A young reader typically does not have the experiences or the faculties to process such a scene with the tongue-in-cheek viewpoint from which it is written.

The “Treatment” is not the end of the horrifying scenes in the story. There is a real element of Frankenstein/Dr. Frankenstein woven into the narrative: Fetid Stenchley is deformed. Professor Celsius Hibble treats him like a human being. In his gratitude Fetid cannot stand to have anyone else grow close to the doctor and many individuals who began to frequent their home “accidentally” perish. The Professor is involved in researching the reanimation of dead tissue, despite ridicule from the scientific community that once lauded his work. When the Professor’s fiancee leaves him he descends further into madness and commits unspeakable acts which result in his own murder by Fetid Stenchley, who is then imprisoned in the Insane Asylum.

All this has happened before Chapter One actually begins. It is Josephine, who sees the Professor’s old house through the fog her first night in their new home next door, and sets out to investigate who joins the threads of the past to those of the present. Professor Celsius’ mansion is not abandoned. Fetid Stenchley has escaped and revenge for his imprisonment is foremost in his damaged mind. In the process of Fetid’s tortured search for revenge and redemption the reader is witness to much that will make the squeamish stop reading–including the return of the murdered professor’s corpse.

Here is where I come to my crossroads, as it were: to recommend or not to recommend? I am uncomfortable with some of the material in the book for a younger reader. It is possible that a middle grade reader (or above) who is interested in the horror genre would thoroughly enjoy this book. My best comparison with an adult horror writer is Dean Koontz (as opposed to Stephen King). In Dean Koontz’s work, although horrendous things occur to people, there is always an overall sense at the end of the story of hope and good over evil. The Orphan of Awkward Falls is by no means as graphic as a Koontz or King title, but parents should be strongly cautioned that it is NOT for young readers.

That said, the narrative is tightly plotted with strong, well-developed characters, an interwoven ribbon of dark humor and underlying themes of unconditional love and individuality.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

I borrowed this from a friend who received it as an Early Reviewer book. It looked promising as a YA sci-fi/horror novel, but I found that the execution fell flat, and I found it a struggle to stay interested in the story.

Josephine and her crunchy, enlightened parents move into a creepy old dilapidated house in a small town in northern Canada. Josephine makes friends with an orphaned boy-scientist who lives in the creepy old dilapidated mansion next door, and he turns out to be not what either of them expected. There's also a scary villain, some monsters and robots, and some running and biting and a fire before the story works itself out.

The story tries hard to be fun and random with little details about the parents' quirky habits and vegetarianism, and the town's Sauerkraut Awareness Day, and the library-slash-fishing-tackle-shop. But it seems to miss the mark, or at least to be confused about its direction. Sometimes it's shockingly graphic, sometimes it's cloying and predictable, sometimes it's just uneven. My 12-yr-old friend found it too scary to finish, and I believe she is probably right at the center of the target audience.

I think the frankenstein-y story idea has potential, but I found this particular book forgettable.

[Maggie V · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a strange and odd book, but in a very good way. Starting a not-graphic novel with a short sketch of a gruesome murder is an interesting (if a bit jarring) way to open a book. The style reminded me a bit of Roald Dahl mixed with The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster mixed again with The Order of the Odd-Fish by James Kennedy. A whimsical, potentially scary, but things eventually turn out fine (though not necessarily happy) in the end type of story. The sketches were a bit jarring, but I think that was more the placement of them in the chapters rather than the actual illustrations. I enjoyed them much more when they told part of the story: the prologue and epilogue. It was interesting how all the threads were eventually explained even though the ending was a bit open. Odd but enjoyable.

Reviewed ARC.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mad scientists, automatons, and lunatics abound in Keith Graves’ The Orphan Of Awkward Falls, a fun speculative fiction middle grade book. I was totally over the moon to read The Orphan Of Awkward Falls because A) I love books that have orphans in them and B) The Book Smugglers gave it a good review. Hopes were high you guys. Although this book is not making my favorites list any time soon, I did have a good experience reading it. I would not hesitate to recommend that middle school librarians and teachers add this book to their collections, it truly is a fun, bizarre sort of read.
Read the rest of my review here
Note: Review and link will work on February 3, 2014.

[Stacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very silly, cute and a little gross. I loved the main character, Josephine, but wish there had been more resolution for the robot.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely love the sense of humour in this nonsense story about a girl (Josie) who ends up in a backwater town dealing with a weird next-door neighbour (Thaddeous) and a cannibal.
If your reading this to kids (or giving it as a present to a little), make sure they’re comfortable with books like Lemony Snicket or The Graveyard Book, because there are some scary scenes.

[Sherrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Orphan of Awkward Falls has a great beginning, a slow middle and an unsatisfactory ending. This book had so much potential but became disjointed and harried at the end. I’m giving the book 3 stars for the illustrations and the engaging beginning.

[CanadianReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gruesome but lively. Dark but humorous. The Orphan of Awkward Falls tells the story of twelve-year-old Josephine Cravitz's arrival in the northern Manitoba town of Awkward Falls, where her scientist father has taken a university research position, at roughly the same time that a violent cannibalistic inmate (Fetid Stenchley) has escaped from the Asylum for the Dangerously Insane. Josephine discovers a mysterious boy genius living in the dark rundown mansion next door, supposedly the grandson of Celsius Hibble, the Nobel-prize-winning scientist, whom Stenchley murdered some ten years back. Stenchley returns, of course, to Hibble's mansion, for, though he murdered Hibble, his employer, it was a crime of passion. He had felt cruelly displaced in Hibble's affections by Hibble's genetic experiments--specifically by one of Hibble's young clones of himself, whom Stenchley now intends to do away with. Stenchley's return to the mansion forces Josephine and Thaddeus on a dark adventure in which they attempt to escape Stenchley as well as Hibble's other disturbing creations--hybrids of spiders and baboons, panthers and buffalo. Stenchley knows enough about his previous employers' infernal machines to change his appearance so that he resembles Thaddeus and Thaddeus appears to be him. This only adds to the troubles of Josephine and Thaddeus. As well, Stenchley resurrects his zombified master, who follows him about throughout this dark and fast-paced tale.
The Orphan of Awkward Falls is certainly not a typical children's novel. A cannibalistic lunatic and lots of violence may make some parents hesitant about this book. However, I know that there are many kids, particularly boys, in grades five to eight who would lap up this book. The book shares some features with the opening scenes of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book (in which a gruesome family murder is described) as well as the works of Lemony Snicket and Roald Dahl. But it also resembles Darren Shan's Demonata and Cirque du Freak horror series as well.
I was initially put off by the macabre qualities of the book, and I had abandoned it for some time. However, when I returned to it, I found it fast paced and disturbingly engaging. The illustrations the author includes (very Brian Selznick) and an attractive cover add to the novel's appeal.
Apart from the dark qualities of the narrative, my chief criticisms are picky ones. In the early part of the book, we're told that the "governor" is coming to the Asylum for the Dangerously Insane to observe one of the treatments that Stenchley endures on a daily basis. However, the governor and the first lady then appear to morph into the "mayor " and his wife. It seems that the author can't figure out what to call these officials, and this causes some confusion for the reader. Additionally, the author should have been corrected on details of Canadian government: Canadian provinces are governed not by "governors" but by "premiers". Minor quibbles as I said, but still...details that should have been attended to.
Parents and young readers should be warned that this is not a book for everyone. It is definitely not for the squeamish

[Pop Bop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun Frankenstein for the Tween Set

Some middle grade books, especially horror/action books, talk down to their intended audience; but some take pretty standard bits and pieces and stitch them together in a fashion that elevates the genre and leads the reader to improve his or her own game as well. This book is of the rarer latter variety. At every point where it could step up or step down, it goes higher.

Take the heroine, Josephine. She is introduced to us as a snarky tween who is determined to be unhappy about her family's sudden move to a nowhere town in Manitoba. Great, I thought. Another grumpy tween? Like, whatevvverrr. Well, guess what? This kid is great. She isn't really committed to grumpy snark, and she can't hold on to it, because she's too solid for that malarkey. Plus, the author has fun with the teasing way she describes Josephine's change of heart when confronted with gothic mystery and adventure. Instead of cliched tween drama we get sly, generous humor and an appealing and engaging and likeable heroine. I'm in.

The horror side is sort of interesting, (any you'll see a wide range of opinions on this). The evil Igor character is a murderous cannibal. He's not exactly Hannibal Lecter, but he's certainly drawn in that style. Except, just when things get really intense, it all drifts to the cartoonish side of violence. This is a delicate line and the book walks that line carefully. The upshot is that you get violence and gore and reanimated dead bodies and body pieces and exposed glowing brains and shocks and such, but it doesn't seem scary so much as just part of a silly fun Gothic horror adventure story. I couldn't predict how any particular reader would react to all of this. The most helpful news is that the Amazon site has an amazingly long "Look Inside" sample that includes the complete first forty pages of the book plus big chunks of other chapters running right up to the end. That's more than enough to allow anyone to sample the book and form their own idea about appropriateness.

Apart from nicely framed characters, funky and atmospheric illustrations, and a kitchen sink approach to plotting, the other remarkable aspect of the book, to me, was the scene setting. The decrepit pile that Josephine's family moves into was stunningly well described. Ditto for the Asylum and for the Mad Scientist Mansion next door to Josephine. Along the same lines, the action sequences have real zip and energy, yet are easy for even younger readers to follow. Secondary characters are remarkably well made, even those who make only brief appearances. The book is just well written, and has more depth and style and writerly craftsmanship than one could possibly expect.

So, this was a very happy find. With appealing characters, an antic plot, and some wonderful scene setting, I became a fan.

Please note that I found this book while browsing kindleunlimited freebies. I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.

[Sandra Stiles · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Orphan of Awkward Falls – Keith Graves

Publisher: Chronicle Books
Pages: 256
Source: I received the book from LibraryThing in exchange for a review
Genre: MG Horror

On Amazon this book as listed for ages 8 – 12. On the author website it states it might not be suitable for anyone under the age of 12. I will say this. You must know your child or students reading likes and dislikes, their ability to handle certain material. The day after I received this book I took it to school and shared part of it with the teacher next door. She really wanted to read it.
I was intrigued when I read the first twosentences: “The little town of Awkward Falls was kow for two things: its canned sauerkraut and its insane asylum. Both had achieved notoriety for their repulsiveness.”
The asylum is home to the criminally insane, especially one known as Fetid Stenchley. He is the worst among all of them. He is in fact a cannibal. It is he who killed the grandfather of our main character Thaddeus Hibble. Thaddeus lives in a Victorian mansion with only a robot butler and a pieced together, Frankenstein style, talking cat. Things change when Josephine and her family move to Awkward Falls and actually move in next door to Thaddeus. Thaddeus and Josephine meet when she sees something in the fog and goes out to investigate. She ends up snooping around the place next door and meets Thaddeus. They become good friends. Of course this story would not have any tension if the aforementioned cannibal had not escaped. The problem is he is headed back to where his last crime was. This puts Josephine, her family and new friend in jeopardy.

There are so many things that I love about this book. It is a gross, creepy, horrifically humorous book. Many of the scenes are possibly too frightening for younger children. Many of my own students read more mature books and more intense horror. For them this would be a wonderful book. I still have some who prefer the younger books such as The Magic Tree House series. For them this would not be an appropriate book. This is where it is important to know your students or children. For a book like this I usually send a note home explaining what the book is about and getting parent permission if I think there may be an issue.

The characters were wonderful, the plot moved at a great pace so that I didn’t want to put the book down. I believe that the majority of children in middle school will love this book. For those adult who love reading middle grade fiction this is one I recommend to you. Get the book and find out what happens in Awkward Falls.

[Xyra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This might be more of a 3 1/2 stars than a 4. Not sure.

I started this book and couldn't believe how it opened. It's a train wreck - pretty revolting (well, part of the storyline not all). This seems to be "Kid Frankenstein in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest over the Island of Doctor Moreau." This book also made me think of the Addams Family (movie not TV series - yes, they are different) library. Dark and strange and intriguing. I can hear Gomez saying, "Yeah, that crazy cousin Stenchly." Or Morticia, "Dear Uncle Celsius was brilliant in his work."

A seriously bizarre story that opens by introducing the reader to a cannibalistic murderer in his prison cell waiting for a daily "treatment." I read on horrified, but I wanted to see what more the story had to offer. That would be Josephine. She's a really cool kid! Curious, intelligent, thoughtful, kind.

She and her family move to Awkward Falls (Manitoba, Canada) and she investigates the house next door where she finds a funky automaton butler, patchwork talking cat (think Nightmare before Christmas), and a child genius who turns out to have his own quirks.

Thaddeus is a scientist. Brilliant and able to reanimate the unfortunate pets of the little old ladies in town. He begrudgingly becomes friends with Josephine.

When Josephine finds out Stenchly has escaped she goes back to Thaddeus to warn him.

The story shifts between Josephine and Stenchly. It is told in third person narrative and the narrator shares a bit of the characters' feelings in different situations.

Despite the bizarre nature the story is well crafted and engaging. As I mentioned earlier I couldn't help but read to the end (which is just as bizarre) - not only was the story intriguing, but also action packed (as you can imagine) - and wonder what happened to Stenchly. I believe Thaddeus is much better off than he was and hope he does eventually get to retrieve and repair Norman.

One note: This book is tagged for "children, juvenile, middle grade, and young adult" readers - more than once I thought, "Ew!" and "Oh, no!" and "Ugh!" It is accurately described as horror, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery. Do not let the nice title and pleasant blurb fool you if your child, juvenile, or middle grade reader is easily scared - the story is very creepy and disturbing.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm back and forth between 2 and 3 stars on this one. On the one hand I really enjoyed the middle grade aspects of this book. I liked the idea of the little boy who is kind of a mad scientist being raised by a robot. Josephine and her family reminded me a bit of The Books of Elsewhere. Those parts of the story were great.

I liked the overall idea of the story - the plot was interesting and enjoyable.

On the other hand, there are significant parts of this book that I would not deem appropriate for a middle grade audience. I know there are mature middle graders who would probably be okay with it, but I (as a 32 year old) found some of the things to be a bit gruesome myself. I kind of felt like the author didn't really understand the age group for which this book appeared to be geared for.

These are the things that particularly bothered me and that I think people would want to be aware of before letting a child read the book:

A cannibalistic murderer who can think of little else than who he will eat next.

Said cannibal actually bites several living people (including the eleven-year-old main character)

He also eats a pet dog.

He also digs up the corpse of his dead master and reanimates him through an operation which is described in a bit more detail than I felt entirely comfortable with for this age group.

He also has a "snake" living in his deformed hump that pushes him to eat people, kill people, and this force even nearly kills him when he sort of resists it.

The murderer is undergoing "treatments" at the insane asylum. The procedure includes opening the murderer's skull and attaching wires to his brain (and the rest of his body) and then giving him shocks - all of which is described, again, in far more detail than appropriate. It actually makes my stomach twist a little just thinking about it.

On another note, I also found the ending completely dissatisfying. What happens to Stenchley is not explained in any way and the mysterious man in the dark suit referenced by Thaddeus near the beginning is never dealt with at all. I found the ending in relation to Stenchley confusing.

So, there you have it - parts of it were very enjoyable, others not so much.

[Plainsboro Public Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keith Graves’ The Orphan of Awkward Falls is an entertaining and page-turning novel, narrated with the cheeky and sometimes disturbing point of views of characters that are sure to leave a lasting impression on readers. Graves begins his story with thirteen year old Josephine, who is yet again moving due to her parents’ work. This time around, Josephine and her parents are transferring to the small Canadian town of Twittington - famous for its large, haunting asylum as well as a popular industry of sauerkraut. Upon arrival at her new mansion-like home, Josephine does not immediately notice a significant part of the street she now lives on - a dark, gloomy estate next door, hidden by a thick forest of fog and trees. Out of curiosity, Josephine goes to investigate the mysterious house, and finds that it is, in fact not abandoned. Inhabiting the lonely mansion is a protective robot. But the robot is there to protect his strange master - a young boy named Thaddeus. As Josephine soon finds out, Thaddeus is an orphan who spends his days waiting at home for the parents he never met, and trying to avoid being caught by the orphanage at the same time. But despite his youth and isolation, Thaddeus is a brilliant scientist. A brilliant scientist who is convinced that his grandfather was a famed professor who had lived in Awkward Falls long ago, before he had been murdered by his own henchman, a ragged, hunchbacked man named Stenchley. As it turns out, Stenchley is still alive and in Awkward Falls, but living his life locked away in the notorious asylum, his reputation as a murderer and a cannibal still preceding him. But soon after Josephine and her parents settle into their new home, Stenchley escapes his prison, and goes after Thaddeus in search of revenge. As Josephine gets herself deeper into Thaddeus’s situation, she comes close to revealing dark secret of Thaddeus’ so-called grandfather and his brilliant experiments and research. All in all, The Orphan of Awkward Fall turns out to be a fascinating and enticing story full of friendship and danger which is sure to light up the minds of any reader.

Hana, Grade 8

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, aimed at kids between 8 and 12, is one of those that I wish had been around when I was a kid. The main character is a 12 year old girl who is smart and independent. The parents, unlike those in so many kids books, *aren’t* clueless idiots who need to be saved by the kids, but are quick on the uptake and capable of action. Add in the orphan- living alone in a decaying Victorian style house, complete with laboratory- and his two companions, an aging robot with memory issues and a stitched together cat who talks like a detective out of film noir, the murderous cannibal villain and some mutant monsters, season with a zombie and stir well. Result: a story I couldn’t put down, even though I’m old enough to be the grandmother of the intended audience.

The plot is well carried out – Josephine’s family moves to a new town, Awkward Falls, in Manitoba. They are pretty well out of town, and the supposedly abandoned mansion next door provides an irresistible lure to Josephine’s curiosity. She is caught snooping by the Norman the robot and makes a tentative friendship with Thaddeus, the orphan who is determined to stay under the radar of the orphanage and continue to live independently. Meanwhile, Fetid Stenchley, the man who murdered Thaddeus’s grandfather, has escaped the asylum for dangerous criminals and is on his way back to the scene of his crime.
There are a lot of secrets that Josephine and Thaddeus uncover through the story, and a lot of action occurs. There is a constant sense of peril in the second half of the book, and many twists.

A few reviewers have complained that the story was too graphic for the intended audience, but while I think that is probably true for some kids, most will delight in the bug eating cannibal, the whole mad scientist thing, and the zombie. I would have loved it at that age, and so would have my friends.

Not quite all the plot threads are tied up neatly in the end; I suspect and hope that there will be a sequel. Josephine and crew have a great future ahead of them, I think.

[Bruce Gargoyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full review at http://thebookshelfgargoyle.wordpress...

Ten Second Synopsis:
Josephine discovers more than moose on her trip into the wild north of Canada - an orphaned, pre-teen mad scientist for one.

This is a super-original book with fantastically creepy illustrations and quirky, but likeable characters. The story drew me in immediately and though this is pitched at a middle-grade audience, with the protagonist being thirteen, there’s a lot here that is far more suited to the adult reader with a slightly juvenile attitude. There’s action a-plenty here, wacky inventions (including the aforementioned robot butler and frankensteinish cat) and a pervasive underlying theme about the importance of friendship. Graves obviously has a reasonably dry sense of humour because I laughed at a lot of the bizarre situations and was continuously double-checking to make sure I had actually picked up a kid’s book.

You might want to pass on this one though, if you have a sensitive stomach, or you are a child reader who does not wish to be scarred for life. While this book is super-original, it also features the super-original use of open-brain surgery on the criminally insane, a cannibalistic murderer, descriptions of implied cannibalistic murdering, genetic experimentation on animals, the unlawful exhumation of a corpse (with accompanied illustration), the reanimation of said corpse and a range of other gorily odd bits and pieces that one wouldn’t expect to find in a book for this age-bracket.

If you’re planning to give this one to your kid to read, you probably should read it yourself first. Otherwise, I heartily recommend it – I really loved the story and while I had to contend with a bit of stomach-churning imagery as I was reading, the book as a whole was both original and engaging.

[Jessica at Book Sake · Rating 3 out of 5]

A teenage girl and her parents move to Awkward Falls as her dad has changed jobs yet again. Josephine is determined that this will be the most boring place ever and doesn’t know how she will survive until school starts. In no time the craziness starts as she sees something outside in the fog. She goes out in the middle of the night to take a look and ends up at her neighbor’s house. The house is inhabited by a little boy, his robot manservant, and a talking cat…well he’s mostly a cat. This boy, Thaddeus Hibble, is a bit crazy and off kilter having survived off of candy for years and been living in this house without parents or adult supervision. Now there is a cannibal on the loose, the same one that killed Thaddeus’s scientist grandfather. The cannibal, Fetid Stenchley shows up and all heck breaks loose…heck including various animal/machine creations that were let loose from the lab below Thaddeus’s house.

This story was fun and certainly different. It felt a bit like The Island of Dr. Moreau for kids. The younger crowd will love the crazy story of Thaddeus and the life he’s been living filled with candy-fueled nights, a robot that will do anything for him, and a fast talking cat that he reanimated with parts of other animals. The cannibal might be a little bit scary for the very young, as well as the monsters created from bits and pieces of animals melded together. The plot of the story flows quickly along and there is plenty of action to keep reluctant readers entertained throughout. While most of the story is well wrapped up, I would have expected a bit happier of an ending and some closure with some of the scary parts of the book.

Reviewed by Jessica for Book Sake.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this book, other than hopefully a charming MG story. I was also pleased to discover that there were illustrations included as I read through this weird tale.

Josephine has just moved to Awkward Falls, location of an insane asylum housing cannibal Fetid Stenchley, who manages to escape through a very poorly planned event. That is unknown to her when she stumbles upon the titular orphan, Thaddeus, a mad scientist who lives with his grandfather's robot servant (awesome!) and a talking reanimated cat, among other oddities. These people and more collide in a crazy adventure.

I have to say that I was somewhat reminded of the Series of Unfortunate Events while reading this. I'm not sure if it's because of the presence of an orphan, the presence of a sauerkraut factory in the town, or if it's the odd happenings or something else. But, whatever it was, I liked it.

Josephine and Thaddeus are sweet kids with understandable motivations and desires. The aforementioned robot servant is wonderful: loyal and brave. And Josephine's parents even get to play an important role in the book-yay for parents who care about their children, who believe and trust even when the truth sounds crazy!

Boo on mad scientists as Thaddeus' grandfather is revealed to be. Boo on cannibals, even though Fetid is revealed to be a bit more complicated than that. He does have his own loyalty system but he spares no hurt for innocent people and too singlemindedly pursues his own desires instead of considering others.

Don't worry though! In the end, our heroes will end well while the cannibals receive a just punishment. A quirky story with good characters and some imaginative escapades.

[Anna del C. Dye · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most charming books I have read for a while. It has a Halloween-y feel to it and kids from 7 years old on will love it. It is written in an easy English, lightly witty and flowingly well done. It will be a refreshing read for all boys and girls who don’t get scared of their shadows. It has the most intriguing cover, a perfect picture of what you will find inside the pages of this book. Released just in time for Halloween, I recommend it as a “must have,” for every English speaking home.
Josephine, a 12-year-old only child, has just moved one more time in her young life. She is crabby and doesn’t want to be happy in their new home. She moved from a nice state in the USA to a small, lost town in the edge of Canada. To her bemusement, the town is known for its sauerkraut and the Asylum for the dangerously insane. Now what kind of combination is that?
Thaddeus lives alone in a huge mansion that has fallen into disrepair, for he has no parents and was raised by a robot. He happens to be Josephine’s new neighbor and unlikely friend.
Things get unusually weird as the man who killed Thaddeus’s grandfather escapes the asylum up the next hill. Mr. Stenchley is not only a most dangerous killer, but also a humpback cannibal with only one thought in his twisted mind…to see his beloved master, Thaddeus’ dead grandfather.
Between the authorities trying to recapture the killer and the genius Thaddeus getting to know the smart Josephine, you will find one of the most entertaining tales of all times. It is scary, yet not enough to cause nightmares. It is delightful reading for all children and parents alike. Excellent job!

[audrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's just so much that could've been better about this book.

The premise is delightful: orphan mad scientist is chased by unhinged cannibal lunatic and fights back with the assistance of an undead cat, a robot and a pre-teen girl.

But therein also lies the problem.

Reading the synopsis of this book makes it seem like Josephine's the protagonist, and if she is, it's only in the very loosest sense of the word, because the book is really all about Thaddeus J. Hibble (boy genius), Celsius Hibble (whackjob scientist and part-time undead shambly thing), Fetid Stenchley (escaped cannibal lunatic) and Norman, the robot.

There is plot for daaaaays, and it is gorgeous, and the Hibble mansion is delightfully scenic and twisty and decaying and weird (secret passages ftw!) and right around page 200 it goes total crazypants.

But... there's really not a lot of Josephine.

To clarify, Josephine is there, in at all the action sequences. But she is kidnapped, and she is picked up and held as bait, and she is dropped, and then later she is rescued, but it's all in service of telling Thaddeus' story, and that's not okay. What's happened here is that Josephine isn't allowed to be the heroine of her own story. She screams and tells the other characters to watch out behind them, and she's described as being irrepressibly curious, without us seeing any of her curiosity that's not directly related to furthering the Hibble story.

Do not want. In big vats.

On the plus side, Graves gives great mansion and better robot. Just not, you know, 12-year-old girls.

But if you're only going to read one book about the cannibal lunatics of rural Manitoba this summer...

[Jocelyn Montalvo Cullum]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14245957

[Kelly Kriner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have let this sit on my mind for a couple of days, but am still unsure of how I want to review The Orphan of Awkward Falls. Initially I was thrilled. All of the elements for an exciting story are present. Graves' words create an irresistible setting and characters. Josephine is determined to be angry and bored with Awkward Falls but can't stop herself from exploring the intrigue of an old photo she finds in her new room and the shadow in the deliciously creepy mansion next door. Meanwhile, readers are exposed to the mind and soon escape of a cannibalistic murderer from the town's insane asylum. Josephine meets new friends in the mansion which had me thinking of Frankenstein and soon all paths are crossed in a jumble of realization and danger.

The writing is brilliant. There is so much going on in this story perhaps I just had trouble wrapping my brain around it all and I wasn't entirely happy with the resolution. YA readers will find a good amount of creepy and thought-provoking "what ifs" in this page turner.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyably strange book, the orphan of Awkward Falls is Thaddeus Hibble, a strange boy who lives with a robot and a talking cat in an old mansion thought to be deserted. Josephine, the only child of a liberal vegetarian couple who have all moved to northern Manitoba, investigates the mansion next door, only to find Thaddeus and his strange companions. Thaddeus' dead grandfather had found a way to revive dead people and animals by taking parts of other people and animals he had collected. A dungeon laboratory full of these creatures and an insane hunchback newly escaped from the Asylum for the Dangerously insane and looking for Thaddeus all lead to mayhem and danger for Thaddeus, Josephine, and Josephine's parents. Quirky and quite funny, Awkward Falls includes a library with a fishing motif and very odd inhabitants. This book was fun because it was so different, creepy,and humorous.

[Samantha-Ellen Bound · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a grim, gory and immensely readable little story. It is easy to get sucked in and once you’re hooked, the pages fly. There is a great deal of adventure, a bit of sly hilarity (at least for kids) and lots of spooky and gruesome details to keep the enthusiastic reader happy.

I did have a bit of trouble with some of the content – I feel like some of it wasn’t appropriate for the intended age group, there were a few parts where I thought it was just a little bit too sick for kids. I wouldn’t like my own children (if I had them) privy to some of the more violent and macabre scenes. This is not to say that kids shouldn’t read it; but perhaps just exercise some caution when recommending to kids – it’s really dependent on the individual reader.

Full review at:
http://bookgrotto.blogspot.com/search...

[Tasha Mahoney · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a family we are very open to anything. I was reading and understanding Stephen King under the blankets with a glow worm when I was 9 because there were no books like this when I was a child. I was forbidden to read such things and it fueled my macabre hunger even more. This is a very clever blend of horror and syfy and well written. It pulls at a moms heart strings a child would never understand but it offers them a sneek peek into what's out there for them in the big kid literary world as they age. Sadly it offers things I don't want my kids to know about just yet at such a young age such as physical violence and cannibalism so it's on the mommys maybe list until I'm ready to explain what these things are to my kiddos. A couple of years and a few more books under their belts and they can dive right in to this little masterpiece.

[Ashley Head · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thirteen-year-old Josephine is not exactly thrilled to move to Awkward Falls, a town known only for its sauerkraut and its insane asylum, but she can't resist snooping around the dilapidated mansion next door. She finds more than she bargains for when she is captured by the strange characters who live ther:an ancient automaton who serves as a butler, a cat pached together with a few odd parts, and a bou genius named Thaddeus. Meanwihile, Fetid Stenchley, the most feared patient in the Asylem for the Dangerously Insane, has escaped and there is only one thing on his mind...revenge. It is great so far. If you like to read mystery books you should check this book out.If you want to know what happens at the end read this book. It is a good book.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book.. but I don't know if I'd read this to kids. Maybe I'm a bit out of the loop - I don't have any kids - but when I think back to when I was 9-12, this book would have been pretty intense.

The story is pretty great, even as an adult, I was drawn to the plot and the fun/zany characters. But what concerns me is the topics they cover: cannibalism, an extreme mental hospital, a lobotomy-type surgery, mutated animals, some sort of split personality, and a slightly unhealthy focus on veganism :) I definitely enjoyed the book, but if you're going to have your kids read it, you might want to take a quick read through it first and see what you think.