Dust City

January 17, 2011
In his second novel for young readers (and his first for teens), Weston (Zorgamazoo) includes a few familiar fairytale names, like a Jack who nabs a bag of magic beans and "Detective Inspector White" (an audacious, modern Snow White). But this noirish page-turner is no bedtime story. Once, there were fairies whose dust brought health and happiness to Dust City, but 16-year-old Henry Whelp—a talking, walking wolf—is locked in a world where the fairies have disappeared and a pale form of fairydust is an addictive catchall drug made by powerful corporations. When he escapes juvenile detention to see his imprisoned father, who believes fairies are still around but captured by the corporations, Henry finds a hopeful romance with a wolf named Fiona and becomes dangerously entangled with ruthless mobsters. Clever use of iconic characters and fairytale symbols against a hardboiled backdrop contribute to Weston's distinctive and highly imaginative mise en scène. Though Henry knows that not all fairytales have happy endings, his scrappy determination to restore good should have readers avidly following him through the grimy streets of his brutal world. Ages 12–up.

October 1, 2010
In a noir caper with racial overtones, the Big Bad Wolf's son escapes from juvie and uncovers an ugly corporate plot to corner the fairy-dust market. With all the fairies suddenly gone from the floating city of Eden, the only magic left to the evolved wolves, dwarves, goblins, cats, elves and foxes in the earthbound city below comes in adulterated form from the dust mines of human-owned Nimbus Thaumaturgical ("Better Living Through Enchantment") or illegally through the nixie mob. Determined to find out what really happened to the fairies, Henry Whelp becomes a nixiedust runner and discovers horrors both below ground and in the aerial realm—capped by the revelation of a genocidal scheme to develop a bad dust that will cause all of the "animalia" species to revert to their bestial originals. There's only a glimmer of hope that some fairies survive, but with plenty of help from an attractive lupine photojournalist and a sack of very special beans passed on by a human thief named Jack, Henry takes on the foes of multispecies amity. Weston deftly tucks his fairy-tale tropes into this thought-provoking mystery. (Fantasy/mystery. 11-13)

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

February 1, 2011

Gr 8 Up-Henry Whelp is a wolf, and not just any wolf-he's one of the animals that has evolved to human size and intelligence. His father is in prison for murdering a girl and her grandmother, a la Little Red Riding Hood, while Henry is living at a juvenile detention facility. With help from his human friend Jack (possessor of magic beans, of course), Henry escapes from the home and obtains letters his father wrote to him about the real circumstances surrounding his crime. Dad worked for Skinner, the mobster who controls illegal trade in dust-manufactured quasi-fairydust that causes wishes to become reality-and he asks his son to investigate what happened to the fairies who used to provide the real thing. Henry starts running dust for Skinner in an attempt to discover the truth, facing ever-increasing danger. He's aided by Fiona, a beautiful young female wolf, and the two eventually travel to the fairies' former home, the floating city of Eden, where they risk their lives to reveal the fairies' fate. This dark tale will appeal to fractured fairy tale and "Hunger Games" fans alike, and its urgency and obvious parallels to real drugs ring true in spite of the imagined setting and characters. There's some extreme violence, including some committed by the generally sympathetic Henry, but it contributes to the story's immediacy and sense of danger.-Beth L. Meister, Milwaukee Jewish Day School, WI

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2010
Grades 7-10 Once upon a time was a long time ago in Henry Whelps city. Now, the fairies are gone, and with them, their magical fairydust. Corporations manufacture synthetic dust to sell over the counter, while uncut nixiedust gets hawked by shady foxes in dark alleyways. But Henry never touches the stuff since his father went berserk and murdered a red-hooded girl and her granny on behalf of a golden-touch gangster named Skinner. See, dust is the stuff of miracles and fulfills destinies, which is fine if youre a princess, but can lead to a big bad fate for a wolf like Henry. The premise is fractured fairy tale, but the play is pure noir: Chinatown via the Brothers Grimm. Henry gets in deep with Skinners crew to exonerate his dad and trips his way into a scheme to return the animalia (wolves, ravens, and the like) to their primitive state. The ending feels like its missing a twist or two, but the clever setup and gutting of fairy-tale tropes will garner plenty of enthusiasm.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)