THE TRAIN OF DARK WONDERS

Stowing away on a magical circus train leads a child to friends, adventures, and all the candy she can eat.

Friendless, bullied, 11-year-old Bess is thrilled to inherit her grandfather Henry’s Odditorium, but maintaining the museum’s peculiar exhibits turns out to be a challenge: Where, for instance, is she going to get magic beans to feed the toothy, whispering flowers growing all over the ramshackle mansion’s walls? Fortunately, Pops also left her a letter steering her to the titular train; unfortunately, the ensuing ride through the underground tunnels of the intercontinental Troll Network deposits her in the Land of Halloween Candy, which has turned creepy under the influence of a powerful magician known as the Candymaker. But Bess delights in weird and scary things and has, moreover, found fire witch Maria and other young allies aboard the train. Neither the sinister Candymaker nor the Land of Halloween’s cute resident gummy bears turn out to be quite what they seem—so, around an intrepid protagonist, a redoubtable supporting cast, a highly caloric setting, and all sorts of magical creatures from sugar spiders and ninja mice to dragons both huge and pocket-size, Bell weaves a tale shot through with the worthy insight that it’s not always possible to tell good from evil at first glance. In both the narrative and Castro’s atmospherically gothic illustrations, Bess is cued white; the rest of the human cast includes racial diversity.

A delightful, multilayered confection, sweet and sharp at the core.