Oscar From Elsewhere

September 15, 2022
Accidentally slipping into a parallel world, 12-year-old Oscar from Sydney, Australia, finds himself involved in an elaborate quest to save a town of Elves. One Monday morning at the skate park, Oscar Banetti gazes into a mirror and finds himself transported to another skate park where a giant silver wave is speeding toward him. That same day, 13-year-old Imogen Mettlestone-Staranise, her two sisters, a cousin, and another boy are summoned to the Elven city that is buried beneath a blanket of silver. Witches have placed all the Elves under a sleeping spell. Imogen and the children also witness Oscar apparently being killed by the silver wave. In fact, Oscar's not dead--though he's now stranded in this magical world until the Elves are freed. In order for this to happen, the six young people must become questers, deciphering enigmatic clues to find nine pieces of a key held by different key keepers, unlock a spell, and set the Elven city free within five days--or the Elves will die. Organized by the advancing days of the week to heighten the tension, the complex, fast-paced plot unfolds in Oscar's and Imogen's droll, alternating voices. On this endlessly surprising, often precarious, sometimes frustrating, and seemingly doomed quest, the children encounter magical creatures, including a Genie, Radish Gnomes, Crystal Faeries, and Water Sprites as their "tricky, tricksy trip" becomes a true journey of self-discovery. Oscar has Italian, Scottish, and Chilean heritage; Imogen reads White. Nail-bitingly suspenseful and refreshingly witty. (Fantasy. 9-13)

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Starred review from November 1, 2022
Grades 5-8 *Starred Review* The fourth book set in the villainously underrated Kingdoms and Empires universe brings back an ensemble of beloved past characters while introducing 12-year-old Oscar, a new protagonist from neither Kingdom nor Empire, who joins the others after being teleported from elsewhere (Sydney, Australia) to the Elven city of Dun-sorey-lo-vay-lo-hey, where he promptly dies. The story alternates between hilarious--and sometimes unreliable---epistolary accounts by eldest-sister Imogen (accompanied by her siblings and cousins) and Oscar, who fortunately did not really die. Together, the two recount a quest that the group is roped into pursuing: Dun-sorey-lo-vay-lo-hey, following its centennial tradition, has been blanketed by accumulating layers of silver, its residents all cursed asleep by Witches (this part is not tradition), and they will all be crushed to death if someone doesn't collect nine pieces of a key by Friday at 10:00 a.m. On the other hand, if someone saves the city, they will become king! The questers set out on Monday, following clues given by a genie via a bottle full of their own modified memories, and encounter a series of good and evil magical beings in a desperate race to find the key-keepers. As always, Moriarty leans into the humor of her Pratchettesque world and its absurdities while managing to craft lovable characters and nail down poignant moments of heart. A furiously fun adventure.

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January 1, 2023
Moriarty's fourth volume in the series that began with The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone (rev. 9/18) sees the three Mettlestone-Staranise girls and the former-pirate-now-prince Alejandro once again heading off to save the day. The Elven city of Dun-sorey-lo-vay-lo-hey will be under threat from Doom Lantern Witches -- and worse -- if the children don't find the nine pieces of a key necessary to unlock the city from its spell. Joining the questers is skateboarding Oscar, who has landed in the Kingdoms from our world, much to everyone's mystification. Moriarty's fantasy is an intricate confection of a fairyland, busy with good-humored, imaginative invention. The personable, confiding voices of the two narrators, Imogen and Oscar, propel the novel along with a style as breathless with emotion as it is with unpredictable adventuring. The story isn't quite as tightly woven as its predecessors, but in amongst its eventfulness and prolific domestic squabbling, the narrators' sorrows and insecurities provide a convincing psychological underpinning.

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