Customer Reviews

Grim Hill: The Secret Deepens

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While the book is fast paced with a lot of humor and heartwarming scenes, the plot is based on actual Celtic myths of fairies - who are not little and winged but rather tall, beautiful, and malevolent. As with the first book, I loved Cat, her frustrations with day to day school life, her believably overworked mother, and especially her little sister, Sookie, who brands herself "The Queen of Mystery" as she starts to teach herself magic tricks.

However, as Cat's friend, Jasper, points out, there are two kinds of magic. Illusion and the supernatural. Cat bought Sookie an illusion kit full of sleight of hand tricks. Sookie soon begins to perform tricks that no illusionist can explain, and is an instant success. Children crowd into Cat and Sookie's home to watch her disappear and reappear objects. Only... her assistants all become ill, and the temperature in town drops like a stone, causing spontaneous ice storms overnight that melt during the day.

Cat's got other problems, though. She picked a fight with Clive over who is better at soccer, boys or girls, and he laughed at her. This means war, and a lot of soccer practice for both teams.

Cat Peters is back! She's feistier and more enjoyable than ever. Follow Cat and company back to Fairy to rescue friends who've become hostages in a war between two ancient Fairy Lords. Who said that fairies were always sweet, spineless beings that have nothing better to do than grant human wishes?

Not!

What delighted me most as a grownup reader was how this book tapped into the kind of girl I truly was--someone who could be stubborn and determined to get her way--but who also cared deeply about others. Cat is a hero who usually works with an ensemble cast. She leads but she also delegates. This is important for kids to understand even heroes can't do everything by themselves.

I love how the Grim Hill books bond younger people and older people together towards common goals. In this book, the adults weren't the most active participants. However, the tendency of pre-teens to overlook the kids whom they once were plays out in how Cat underestimates what's going on with her little sister Sookie.

I was hooked from the start of the argument between Cat and a boy over soccer. I love how Ms. Dreeble came to the rescue and her reciting the names of the unknown women scientists to the same boy who insisted on the superiority of men in sports and science. I flipped through pages leading up to the game between the girl's and boy's teams and agonized with Cat at the expertly handled reversal. I cheered when Skeeter stood up to his snotty older brother and preferred being Sookie's magic act assistant. Boys should be encouraged to understand they don't have to be the ones calling the shots all the time. I love how boy characters are often helpers in the Grim Hill books. This reminds me why I have avoided the Harry Potter books. I wanted to read about a girl being the center of attention only because popular female heroes still seem to be the minority.

The Grim Hill books are extremely realistic even though these books have fantastic elements. Sometimes you don't win where you think you should despite your best efforts and later you win where it really matters. Sometimes the boy you like doesn't see you and the boy who does like you can't get over himself enough to stop being annoying.

And the ending of Grim Hill The Secret Deepens let me know that Sookie her new friend Skeeter will give Cat new reasons to rise to the challenge of straddling the world of Fairy and the regular world. I would give this book to my daughter or any young person who needs a cool, female hero to read about.

Thanks for another thrilling installment. Bring on the next sequel!