Another Dreadful Fairy Book

War is coming to Elfame! The uneasy truce between the Seelie Court and the Sluagh Horde is in trouble as nobles on both sides push King Julius and Queen Modthryth to attack while amongst the common fairy folk the Brother/Sisterhood of Afflicted and Repressed Fairies (B.A.R.F.) plans a revolution.The one chance Elfame may have to maintain the peace is a fairy raid organized by Prince Beow of the Sluagh and Princess Viola of the Seelie. But when the two are kidnapped, it's up to Shade, Ginch, and the Professor to save them and prevent the fairy lands from descending into chaos. Can a junior librarian and a pair of con artists stop a civil war? (Seems like a pretty tall order.) Will Elfame see a final, epic showdown between the Seelie and Sluagh? (Well, this is the third book in a fantasy series, so it's kind of required, but then again this is also dreadful fantasy series, so...?) Will Quacksworth and Etter finally get along? (The Magic 8-Ball says, &“Outlook not so good.&”)

Shade, a sassy sprite, never fit in at her village, so when her treehouse burns down she sets out to find a new home and, with luck, others who love books and learning.

The sharp-tongued Shade, gregarious Ginch, and pilfering Professor return for more mad-cap misadventures! Will the three stop a bullying bugbear from closing the Grand Library of Elfame? Maybe. Will they track down members of a secret society of book guardians and retrieve a treasure trove of lost books? Possibly. Will Quentin Q. Quacksworth actually approve of this tale? I wouldn't bet on it, but the only way to find out is to read (against the advice of Quacksworth, of course) Another Dreadful Fairy Book! Bullying bugbears, inept inventors, bickering gangsters, hay fever-plagued monsters—a whole new batch of dreadful fairies join Shade, Ginch, and the Professor in this sequel to A Dreadful Fairy Book. Shade's pleasant life in the magical Grand Library of Elfame is threatened when the Grand Scrutinizer of the Ministry of Ordinariness, Averageness, and Normalcy (M.O.A.N.) decides that the library poses a danger to the "moral climate" of the fairy lands. Shade, unfortunately, has little time to deal with that when she discovers that her late father belonged to a secret society of book guardians. Taking up her father's mission, Shade ventures forth to find and unite the other members and retrieve a treasure trove of rare books. Will she succeed? Will the library remain open? Will narrator Quentin Q. Quacksworth find this book to be as "improper" as the last one? Read Another Dreadful Fairy Book and find out!

Readers, beware: what you hold in your hands is a dreadful fairy book. I wish I were narrating almost any other fairy story, but alas, this is my lot. Whatever expectations you have of delightful and whimsical fairies are sure to be disappointed. There are certainly fairies, but most are not proper fairies. Some who are supposed to be nasty are disappointingly nice, while some who should be kind and helpful are disconcertingly surly, dishonest, and generally unpleasant company. Our heroine is, perhaps, the worst offender—a sprite more interested in books than carefree games, who insists on being called Shade. She is on a quest, albeit with rather questionable companions, to find a place her outré self can call home. A place of companionship, comfort, and, most importantly, positively filled with books.

When Lester's mysterious cousin Clara comes to stay with his family she insists on knitting him ugly sweaters and Lester must figure out how to accept the unwanted gifts without hurting his cousin's feelings.

When Mrs. Sorensen’s husband dies, she rekindles a long-dormant love with an unsuitable mate in “Mrs. Sorensen and the Sasquatch.” In “Open the Door and the Light Pours Through,” a young man wrestles with grief and his sexuality in an exchange of letters with his faraway beloved. “Dreadful Young Ladies” demonstrates the strength and power—known and unknown—of the imagination. In “Notes on the Untimely Death of Ronia Drake,” a witch is haunted by the deadly repercussions of a spell. “The Insect and the Astronomer” upends expectations about good and bad, knowledge and ignorance, love and longing. The World Fantasy Award–winning novella “The Unlicensed Magician” introduces the secret magical life of an invisible girl once left for dead—with thematic echoes of Barnhill’s Newbery Medal–winning novel, The Girl Who Drank the Moon. With bold, reality-bending invention underscored by richly illuminated universal themes of love, death, jealousy, and hope, the stories in Dreadful Young Ladies show why its author has been hailed as “a fantasist on the order of Neil Gaiman” (Minneapolis Star Tribune). This collection cements Barnhill’s place as one of the wittiest, most vital and compelling voices in contemporary literature.