Jo Dereske

Glom Gloom

Now available, for the first time in paperback

And now remember the Gartergates
Full three times Glom Gloom high
When strong they be, no harm to ye
But left to lie, prepare to die.


Every year the Bulkings of Waterpushin celebrated Gloom Day, remembering the great Glom Gloom and the deliverance of the Bulkings from the tyranny of the Weeuns. Everyone recited the familiar warning poem. But no one, Raymond Fibbey discovered, really believed any of it anymore. It was just a story.
Or was it? The odd old woman called Wicker Bugle believed the old tale. But who could accept anything Wicker Bugle said? Yet still...
That was the start of Raymond Fibbey's adventure. And even though Raymond was a boy who was always in trouble, who stretched the truth, what he had to do to find the truth about the Gartergates frightened even him. When he was joined by another boy, and a very stubborn girl, there was no turning back. It was off to the Gartergates, wherever they were and whatever they hid.

Nominated for the William Allen White Award, and Saratoga Reads.

"One of the best fantasies to come my way in a long time...a thoroughly satisfying story."

Santiago LS

"...fantasy fans will lbecome easily involved in this trio's ordeal."

Booklist

"Enjoyable fantasy...heroes can have human failings and foresight."

School Library Journal

****

The Lone Sentinel

Erik knew he was doing wrong. His father had been killed and he'd failed to report it. Instead he'd gone on alone caring for the beam that was the Lone Sentinel. Erik had lived all his life at the Lone Sentinel, carefully following every rule. If they knew, Trust Control, the overssers of all the sentinels, would make him move to the only city on Azure, New Province. But nothing in his instructions prepared him for the arrival of Willa and Augusta, two runaways from New Province.

-Nominated for the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award
-Nominated for the South Carolina Young Adult Book Award
-A Junior Library Guild Book Club selection
-Translated into Spanish, El Centinela Solitario

"This is a well-paced science fiction suspense...the action is clean and quick, climaxed by a great rocket-and-car chase."

Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books

"...well-plotted science fiction tale of good versus evil."

School Library Journal

****

My Cousin the Poodle

For ten-year-old Barbara and her younger brother, Tommy, a weekend at Aunt Tofelia's is like a trip to another planet. Who else wears a wig like Uncle Rupert, or takes children along to nightclubs and racetracks? Where else can they get away without combing their hair or taking baths? Most of all, where else does a dog have a room of her own - and have her stomach pumped when she eats a hot dog?


-Translated into Dutch, Mun Nichtje is een Poedel

"...a deliciously comic tale of two children, their eccentric aunt, and the kidnapping of her beloved poodle, Terry Berry...will delight dog lovers and dog haters alike."