Sunday, October 19th

Sunday, October 19th

Baright Branch Library

Pages 1-134 Goblin Secrets

It’s Sunday and my daughter has booked it back to Lincoln to work the shift she couldn’t get out of at the dining hall so I’m left to my own devices. I decide that those devices will include several Roaming Reading stops. But first, I finish up A Discovery of Witches over breakfast and lunch. I don’t know exactly how I feel about it or if I’ll continue with the next two books even though I already bought the second one. 

My next book is Goblin Secrets by William Alexander. I believe I would refer to this as a middle grade book as the main character, Rownie, is around 10 years old (I say around because he doesn’t know how old he is) and the writing style and content would be appropriate for middle grade readers. I’ve read quite a bit of middle grade fiction in my time. In the past few years, I’ve plowed through all the Chronicles of Narnia (highly enjoyable), the first ten books in A Series of Unfortunate Events (also wonderful), The Westing Game (fantastic), Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh (I don’t really recall if I liked this one or not), and Ella Enchanted (just as good as the movie, which I’ve always liked). It usually takes me a bit to adjust to the different writing level in these books and since the books are short, I’m sometimes almost done with them by the time I’ve adjusted. That’s why I liked reading the Narnia and SOUE books back to back. It looks like Goblin Secrets has a sequel, but it’s not on my list so it will be one and done with this one. 

I decide to hit up another library as my first stop and have trouble finding one that’s open on a Sunday. I finally settle on the branch in Ralston that I’m very familiar with since my daughter and I lived in Ralston when we first moved to Omaha, she went to school in Ralston through graduation, and we were frequent visitors to this library. I’m there right when it opens at 2, which ends up being a poor decision because they haven’t had time to turn on the heat yet. It’s 63 degrees outside and about the same inside. Now, that doesn’t sound awful, I know, but you also have to realize I am thoroughly chilled at anything under 72. And once I get chilled, it’s nearly impossible for me to get warm again unless I sit in direct sunlight or take a hot shower. One of my nicknames is ‘the lizard’. 

So I keep my jacket on and find a relatively comfortable chair near the back and start my book. I’m a tad distracted by the temperature and an overhead light that is flickering on and off, creating an unsettling bad prison movie effect.

As I suspected, it takes a bit for me to get into it, but once I do, I really start enjoying it. Goblin Secrets is the story of Rownie, an orphan in a land called Zombay, who lives with an old lady who ‘collects’ orphans to basically run errands for her. Oh, and she has wind-up chicken legs. Just go with it. In Zombay, being anything other than yourself is forbidden, which means no one can wear masks and putting on plays or any other sort of make believe is against the law. Rownie, who has recently lost his older brother Rowan (Rowan isn’t dead, he’s literally lost–no one knows where he is), stumbles upon an announcement that a local goblin troupe is putting on a performance. Being the curious kid he is, he knows he has to go and ends up falling in with this troupe of good-hearted creatures who just want to entertain people. 

Of course, part of the Roaming Reading experience is that you can pretty much expect interruptions and they’re likely to come at the most inopportune moments. So when I’m finally getting sucked into the story, an old man wearing a shirt proclaiming “This is not a beer belly” walks in and starts bellowing questions at the librarian. Then the old Asian lady using the computer in the back corner begins making a ‘heee-uhhh’ sound every five minutes or so. Is she laughing? Doing breathing exercises? Having a stroke? It’s anyone’s guess.

I struggle to focus and get to the part where Rownie, wearing a fox mask because all the goblins wear masks, is about ready to help the goblins gather up spectators for their show. As he prepares to leave, one of the goblins tells him to ‘break your face’, something he comes to find out means ‘good luck’. This book is adorable. But it’s adorableness will have to be interrupted because it’s almost three o’clock and I have plans to finish it at a place that just seems to be made especially for me.