Misfit Menagerie #2: A Valiant Quest for the Misfit Menagerie

Trapped in a toy store?

Sounds like a mission for four furry friends.

Bertie, Susan, and the Misfit Menagerie—Smalls the sun bear, Rigby the Komondor dog, and Wombat the wombat—have at long last escaped from evil Grand Master Claudes Most Magnificent Circus and are finally free to live life at their leisure. But theres something missing. Something thats keeping them from moving on. Or rather, someone. Tilda the Angora rabbit—and fourth member of the Misfit Menagerie—is being held captive at Toddles Toy Emporium, a massive toy store more impressive than even F.A.O. Schwarz.

Now Bertie, Smalls, and the gang—including a sword-wielding hedgehog—must embark on a quest to rescue their kidnapped friend, braving the mean streets of Hollyhoo City and the bratty Chrysantheum Toddle. Its a journey that will take them over an actual clay rainbow, force them to hide among stuffed animals in a life-like jungle, and lead them to soar above the ground in a hot-air balloon—all big tasks for animals who only recently saw that there was a world outside of Mr. Mumfords farm. But if theyre valiant enough, they just might reunite the menagerie and find themselves a new home.

In the beloved tradition of The Borrowers, The Tale of Desperaux, and The Cricket in Times Square, here is an irresistible adventure story of the tiny individuals who secretly live among us humans.

Helena is the oldest of four mouse siblings who live in the walls of the Cranston estate. It is 1887 when the nouveau riche Cranstons decide to take a cruise ship to England in search of a husband for their awkward older daughter. The Cranston mice stow away in the luggage . . . and so begins the time of their lives, as they meet intriguing, cosmopolitan mice onboard and take it upon themselves to help the human Cranston daughters find love. They might just find perfect futures for themselves as well!

Full of laughs, near-misses, and surprise, this is Richard Peck at his best and most playful.

Jacqueline Resnick (www.jacquelinewrites.com) received her MFA from the New School in 2009. She grew up in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and dog. The Misfit Menagerie series is her first for children.