Barry Hutchison

Lisa Marie and her brother Vernon are taking a trip downtown to buy their dad a present. It's not as fun as it sounds though - Vernon isn't the best big brother, insistent on reminding everyone that Lisa Marie is only his stepsister and then there's his "incessant" moaning. Lisa Marie is smart, interested in the world around her, and kind even when people are mean, but Vernon never appreciates her.

I've read a lot of books with nasty siblings and freely admit that I was delighted when Vernon got his comeuppance. So, they go to Create-a-Ted, because the store is giving away free bears. Lisa Marie is worried about the previous owners (she's a big teddy fan and is also in the habit of fixing the stuffing machine for the owners) and the new owner is creepy, to put it mildly, but they end up making an Elvis bear for Lisa Marie's dad and creepy Halloween bears for each other.

Halloween night, after a rather uncomfortable trick-or-treating session (Vernon's nasty friends steal Lisa Marie's candy and, as usual, he's too wimpy to stand up for her) Lisa Marie is awoken by her witch bear... coming to life.

It turns out that the "new" store owner (he tricked the old ones into leaving) has stolen a scientific invention that brings stuffed bears to life and sent all the creepy bears out into the town to steal for him. Not only that, they have evil magic and the witch bear turns Lisa Marie's parents into a toad and a slug! Things seem bad, but then they get worse - the bear Vernon made is a combination of all bad things, from demon to vampire - and it's got an even more evil plan to take over the town and then the world!

Luckily, with the help of Elvis bear and Lisa Marie's smarts, they just might have a chance - if only Vernon can do the right thing for once and stick up for his little sister.

Goofy black and white cartoons are scattered throughout the book and while there are some Britishisms, and it's definitely got that wacky British humor, it's not foreign enough to turn off the (admittedly insular) majority of my library audience.

Verdict: Funny, gruesome, and very satisfying! The story ends satisfactorily, but with enough loose ends to make room for the sequels. Hand to fans of Attack of the fluffy bunnies, Mo O'hara, and Tom O'Donnell.

ISBN: 9780593174289; Published May 2020 by Delacorte; Borrowed from another library in my consortium… (more)

Kyle has a mother who doesn't believe a word he says, a forgetful nan in a home and a father he has never seen. It's no wonder Kyle was troubled as a child and made up an imaginary friend, a father figure, to keep him company.

But when he hears scratching noises in the attic above his bedroom, and a girl around his age called Ameena later comes to his rescue, it's clear that someone from his past is out to
kill him. Could it be that his invisible friend, Mr Mumbles is back and even uglier and meaner than ever? And do both his mother and nan know more than they are letting on about Kyle's past?

For a kids book I found this an enjoyable read, although I do feel that being the first in a series the meat of the story is yet to come. The idea of a world named 'The Darkest Corners' where the neglected and forgotten ghosts of the past hang out, is pretty cool and I loved the scary Keller house next door - but we only touched lightly on these and I know there must be more to look forward to. An enjoyable and scary read that will keep your kids reading under the covers all night long, and possibly scared to turn the lights out, too.… (more)

In the first book in this series Mr Hutchison terrified us with the eponymous Mr Mumbles, a hulking brute of a character that at the time I likened to the monsters from such classic slasher movies as Halloween and Friday 13th. In his new book the scares come from a very different kind of character. I'm thinking the minds of Hannibal Lecter and every serial killer that James Patterson and Jeffery Deaver have ever written about all packaged into the mind of a little girl in a dirty white dress and poorly applied make-up. For Caddie, the owner of the titular doll Raggy Maggie, is evil personified; the way she tortures and hurts her victims is part of a huge game to her, a game that if they lose they pay the ultimate price - wth their lives. And never have the words 'Peek-a-boo, I see you' sounded so chilling!

I LOVED Mr Mumbles (the book, not the monster I hasten to add) and I wondered just how Barry was going to be able to follow such a fantastic series opener. However, in a conversation with Tommy Donbavand, author of the Scream Street series and good friend of Barry Hutchison, I was reliably informed that Raggy Maggie was both better and more terrifying and so ever since I have been avidly waiting to get my hands on a copy. So much so that when it arrived in the post I dropped everything to read it, although sixty pages in I did put it down...... and then finished it late at night, all alone in the house, in order to get the most from the horrors within it. For your own sanity please do not try this at home!

In my opinion Caddie is one of the greatest ever creations in children's horror literature. She is so totally deranged the reader just does not know what to expect from her next. Whereas with Mr Mumbles we always knew he was going to be very much relying on brute strength and his apparent invincibilty, just as we have seen in the past from the likes of Michael Myers and Jason Vorhees, Caddie, however, is just a child. She is small and frail, as little girls are, so surely she should be a relatively minor test for Kyle, the boy who defeated Mr M in such style? Definitely not - underestimate Caddie and it will probably be the last thing you ever do. First of all, Caddie is super-fast; one moment she is there, the next she is gone. Secondly she has powers; boy does this girl have powers. She can take over the minds of adults to use their greater physical size to aid her, turn every day toys like teddy bears and dolls into mankillers with needle-like teeth, and she can turn innocent playground activities like skipping into a game of death where you could literally lose your head. And just when you think you may have had a lucky break and got the better of her...... enter Raggy Maggie herself!

Barry Hutchison also carries on where he left off by slowly revealing hints and snippets of back story that leave the reader completely tantalized. There are already so many questions that need answering, and he is an expert at giving us just enough information to have us trying to guess what will happen next, and why. Why is Kyle's father so bitter and intent on changing the world, or 'making it better' in his words? What is the story with Ameena, who disappeared out of Kyle's life shortly after the Mr Mumbles episode, but then suddenly reappears just as Kyle needs her help the most? And just how is it that Kyle can 'leap' between his world and the Darkest Corners? I am sure that all of these answers will come eventually, but that Mr Hutchison will not make the wait easy for us in the process.

Raggy Maggie hits the reader on a psychological level in ways that the gore-ridden output of the likes of Darren Shan just cannot manage. Don't get me wrong, I love a bit of gore just as much as the next boy, but these chills are oh so much better. I once taught a pupil who had a phobia of clowns - she was terrified of them; I have a feeling that in a few years time I could be teaching whole classes who suffer from pediophobia, the fear of dolls, if this series becomes as popular as Shan's work as it certainly deserves to.… (more)