THE YGGYSSEY
How Iggy Wondered What Happened to All the Ghosts, Found Out Where They Went, and Went There
by Daniel Pinkwater and illustrated by Calef Brown
In this amiably goofy sequel to The Neddiad (2007), sharp tongued Yggdrasil (Iggy) Birnbaum takes center stage to find out why the ghosts of Hollywood are disappearing. Though she usually considers the specters haunting the Hermione Hotel nuisances, Iggy finds cause for concern when so many turn up missing that the festive (if silent) Day of the Dead parade is visibly smaller. Learning that they’re all slipping away to an otherworldly version of Hackensack, Iggy and buddies Neddy and Seamus follow. Along the way, they encounter a reckless Toad and a few other strangely familiar characters, are repeatedly warned not to piss off a witch and then do it anyway, undertake a dangerous quest for a talismanic bunny and finally help the good witch Shmenda drive off a coven of evil witches who have taken over the local government. Iggy breaks her narrative off abruptly in the midst of the happy ending, promising a further sequel to readers who find trips into Pinkwater’s odd noggin diverting. (Fantasy. 11-13)