273. The Curse of the Romany Wolves by S. Jones Rogan

The Curse of the Romany Wolves by S. Jones Rogan. Pictures by Christian Slade (Canada) - (US)
Penhaligon Brush, Book 2

Pages: 296
Ages: 8+
Finished: Dec. 11, 2010
First Published: Aug. 11, 2009
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Genre: children, animal fantasy, pirates
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

Penhaligon's whiskers twitched as he sniffed the damp, salty air.

Acquired: Received a review copy from Random House Canada.

Reason for Reading: Read aloud to my 10yo ds.

Both my son and I love animal fantasy and loved The Daring Adventures of Penhaligon Brush that it was obvious that we would read together this sequel. And I'm happy to report we both enjoyed this very much as well. In fact, I'll say ds enjoyed it more than I did simply because of the theme this time around including sailing the seas and pirates, which he absolutely adores. This book is a sequel to the first and while events and characters (not present) from the first book are spoken of, the story does not rely on the events of the first book, so reading order doesn't really matter.

One of the adopted wolf cub twins comes down with the dreaded wolf disease that killed off all the wolves in this area and Penhaligon goes off on a sea journey to get some of the special herb that is required for the cure, which can only be found on a far away island. While he is gone, the disease amazingly finds a way to spread to other species' children and while patients do not become comatose as the wolves do, they still become very ill. Rowan and the town are left very busy and worried looking after the ill village children and becoming more and more despairing as Penhaligon fails to return.

Penhaligon's journey is rife with dangers as he becomes prisoner of Captain Elgato Furrari the pirate, is attacked by a sea serpent, Elgato is attacked by the more vicious pirates under the rule of Captain Dredge the Ferret and then he must face the feared Romany Wolves before he can get his cure.

A rip-roaring adventure, with the return of our favourite characters from the first book. The story is heavy on the action but this is tempered by scenes going back to the village and following the story of the spread of the disease, the villagers turning against the wolf boy and the town being quarantined. Elgato has a wonderful Latino accent that is fun to read, as are Hotchi-Witchi and Pig-Wiggy's low class English accents. All the main characters find themselves in some major scrapes (even Rowan back home manages to land herself hanging from the edge of a cliff) and the chapters end with the awesome cliffhangers (no pun intended!) making perfect stopping points for a read-aloud causing great excitement to get back to the story. Reading on your own, you are going to want to keep reading just one more chapter!

We would would love to read a further book about Penhaligon and friends but I can't find any information on-line about the author or future books. This book is not even out in paperback yet, so that's not a good sign at this point, seeing as the first book was written in 2007. Anyway the book does end on a complete final note with a satisfying end.