Goblins!: An UnderEarth Adventure [Hardcover]

Royce Buckingham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 18, 2008 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Sneaking out into the woods near the Canadian border, Sam and PJ come across what looks like a mutant gorilla with a bad attitude. But it’s no ape— it’s a goblin, and thousands more of them live under the earth, kept in check only by a small corps of human Guardians.

Sam finds a tunnel below the surface, and in no time he’s in the goblins’ clutches. With goblin leaders Eww-Yuk and Slurp at odds, it will take all of PJ’s strength and ingenuity to get Sam back—but then again, how hard could it be to outsmart a goblin?

Featuring the high adventure and slapstick humor that made Demonkeeper a fantasy favorite, Goblins! is a subterranean romp that will keep readers laughing as they race through the pages to see what happens next.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5–8—In a small town near the Canadian border, 12-year-old Sam has to make his own entertainment, often leading to encounters with Sumas's lone police officer. After the latest incident, he meets PJ, Officer Myrmidon's 17-year-old son. When they disobey PJ's father and steal a police car to investigate something suspicious at the border, the boys find something much more dangerous than they imagined: goblins. PJ, with the help of the guardians-a secret society dedicated to keeping the goblins from discovering the upper world and humans from discovering UnderEarth—must rescue Sam from the clutches of the great General Goblin, Eww-yuk. Set mostly underground in the creatures' lair, the book has lots of adventure, fights, and spilled blood that will attract middle-grade readers. Keep this on hand for those who want lots of action with some mild gross-out scenes.—Ginny Collier, Dekalb County Public Library, Decatur, GA
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Review

A riotously good adventure. -- Kirkus Reviews

...lots of adventure, fights, and spilled blood that will attract middle-grade readers. Keep this on hand for those who want lots of action with some mild gross-out scenes. --School Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (September 18, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399250026
• ISBN-13: 978-0399250026
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,795,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

About Royce Buckingham

Royce Buckingham was born in Richland, Washington and grew up in the 70's downriver from the Hanford nuclear plant. This might explain his mutated view of the world and provides the perfect setting for his book, The Dead Boys.

As a kid, Royce dreamed of making up fantasy stories. He loved 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Phantom Tollbooth and The Hobbit. He collected comic books, watched Jaws at nine years old, then Star Wars at eleven and Alien at thirteen. He was even a Dungeons & Dragons nerd and created his own imaginary worlds.

As an adult, Royce obtained an English degree from Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA and received his law degree from the University of Oregon, paving the way for a job as a prosecuting attorney. It was his work as a prosecutor and his love of fantasy that led him to write Demonkeeper.

Demonkeeper began as a short story inspired by a street kid Buckingham used to prosecute regularly in juvenile court. He was thirteen, had a green Mohawk, and Buckingham would see him downtown begging change. One day he disappeared, and nobody seemed to notice. Even his parents didn't seem to know where he'd gone, or care. Buckingham imagined the chaos of street life as a monster that rose and ate him up while people weren't paying attention, as it does with so many lost children. He wrote a screenplay from that story. The script evolved into a much more lighthearted and fun tale than the original short story, but the message remained--kids need stability, family and a home.

His longtime goal of being published became a reality after 13 years of writing in his spare time. In 2005, he hit a home run, selling his first book Demonkeeper to both Putnam and 20th Century Fox within a month of each other. Demonkeeper then hit the bestseller list in Germany. He now has five books to his credit and continues to write in his dwindling spare time.

Buckingham lives in Bellingham, WA with his beautiful wife, whom he met in the courtroom when she came to cover one of his criminal cases as a reporter. They now have two fabulous boys who help with his books and a huge black hound from the dog pound. Thankfully none have been eaten by demons...or goblins...or mutated trees.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book!, November 2, 2009

By 

R. Hughes "seattle shiksa" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Goblins!: An UnderEarth Adventure (Hardcover)

It's really fun and I couldn't put it down! I also loved the other book written by Royce Buckingham. It's called "Demonkeeper".

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun Book for Middle Readers, May 20, 2009

By 

SciFiChick "The SciFiChick" (Fishers, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Goblins!: An UnderEarth Adventure (Hardcover)

When Sam and PJ sneak out to investigate an alert along the Canadian border, they think they may stumble upon smuggler's loot. Instead, they run into a monstrous creature. And there is a tunnel that leads down in the ground to a lair of goblins. A group of humans consider themselves Guardians and try to keep the humans and Goblin underground separate. But when Sam unwittingly drops a bag of fireworks, the Goblins may find a way to cause more destruction, while learning about explosives. This may give the goblins enough leverage to overtake humans for good.

Sam is captured by the goblins, and tries to outwit them. And in the process, finds a friend in the least obvious creature. Meanwhile, PJ teams up with the Guardians to take back the fireworks and rescue Sam.

This was a cute, very short read for middle readers. There are only a couple instances of non-graphic death, which may not be appropriate for kids under 10. It's not completely light-hearted. There's not a lot of content or depth, but it was written as pure entertainment for children. Young fantasy fans will certainly enjoy the action and adventure, as well as bits of humor.

5.0 out of 5 stars Goblins! -- good clean fun in the dirt, December 27, 2008

By 

Laurie Thompson "writer and mother" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Goblins!: An UnderEarth Adventure (Hardcover)

Goblins! is an exciting and imaginative fantasy adventure story perfectly written for middle-grade boys and just about everyone else. While always keeping up the suspense and seriousness of the plot, Buckingham is able to inject wry humor, astute observations about the human condition, and even a few moral lessons along the way. Fast-paced but not overly scary, it's good clean fun in the dirty UnderEarth. If you liked DemonKeeper, you'll LOVE Goblins!
(Disclaimer: Yes, I know the author, but I'm a busy gal and don't write reviews unless I'm really impressed.)