The Slippery Map

Starred review from September 24, 2007
At the heart of this inventive, far-reaching fantasy is Oyster R. Motel, an earnest 10-year-old raised in a nunnery shared by 13 nuns who have taken vows of silence—anticipating objections to a boy in a “nunnery,” the author interjects: “You can't be overly rigid about the English language. (Nurses don't live in nurseries! Novels don't live in novelties!)” But as he grows up, normally and noisily, he wears out his welcome with everyone but the nun he thinks of as Sister Mary Many Pockets, who found him as an abandoned infant (she named him for the motel towel wrapped around him). On a rare venture outside, Oyster meets a old woman who maps children's Imagined Other Worlds. She tells him of two youngsters—later revealed as Oyster's parents—who once slipped inside the map they created, traveling through the Gulf of Wind and Darkness into their imagined world, never to return. Accompanied by a dachshund belonging to the nunnery's child-hating lone employee, Oyster is soon transported through that same Slippery Map to the Other World, where the evil Dark Mouth holds his parents prisoners. In a Harry Potter–esque twist, Oyster is heralded as “the boy,” the long-awaited hero entreated to take up his parents' crusade to destroy the villain and end his cruel regime. Writing as Bode (The Anybodies
), Julianna Baggott effortlessly renders an expansive, entertainingly quirky cast of creatures benign and malevolent. Her snappy prose makes the case for the story's explicit messages about the value of unbridled imagination. Ages 8-12.

December 1, 2007
Gr 4-7-Throughout Baltimore, children are falling victim to the Awful MTDsMysterious Temporary Disappearances. One minute there, then, poof! Gone. And with another poof, returned. Adults find it quite disconcerting, but Oyster R. Motel, a 10-year-old orphan who lives in a nunnery, longs for the adventure of an MTD. One day, he enters a dusty old shop full of scrolls and discovers the ancient Mapkeeper, charged with recording the Imagined Other Worlds of children. Oyster is pulled into one of them and learns that the disappearances of other children have been bungled attempts to get him into Boneland, the imaginary world that his parents created many years ago. It has taken on a life of its own, and as a result of the Foul Revolution, his parents are now prisoners of the evil Dark Mouth. Along with his companion Leatherbelly, a timid dachshund, he sets out to find the parents he has never met and to prevent Dark Mouth from using the Slippery Map to slide into the real world. Through his adventures, he comes to understand the power of unleashed imagination and discovers the true meaning of family. This story does not have the effortless humor and whimsy that made "The Anybodies" (HarperCollins, 2004) shine. The cast of characters is confusing, as are all the locations that Oyster must traverse to reach the final destination, and parts of the story drag. Dorman's pencil drawings of the various characters add a light touch; it's unfortunate that there's no detailed image of the Slippery Map, with the various locations laid out. Purchase where Bode has a loyal following."Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2007
When orphaned 10-year-old Oyster R. Motel discovers a mysterious map that allows him to slip into an imaginary world created by his long-lost parents, he embarks on a quest to save both them and their invented country from destruction. Bodes fourth stand-alone novel is whimsically peopled with the elaborately named nuns (Sister Mary Many Pockets, Sister Patricia Tough-Pork) who raised Oyster, and the fantastical beasts that roam the land of Oysters slippery map: Spider Wolves, Doggers, Growsels, and Dirt Clams. Although the story is weighed down by tangential subplots, and many of the secondary characters merely function as one-dimensional tools to aid Oyster in his struggle, readers will be tickled by the punny dialogue andthe booksplayful illustrations.Bodes nonsensical fun will attract fans of The Edge Chronicles, The Eddie Dickens Trilogy, and A Series of Unfortunate Events.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)