Review and Giveaway: The Mortification of Fovea Munson by Mary Winn Heider

Do you love Halloween and Halloween reading as much as I do? I'm not a huge fan of spooky, but spooky mixed with humor and geared to middle grade readers is a little hard to resist. So when Disney Book Group gave me the opportunity to read a copy of Mary Winn Heider's The Mortification of Fovea Munson, I didn't hesitate.

Here's what it's all about. Despite her protests, 12-year-old Fovea ends up agreeing to work at the front desk of her parents' research lab. All she has to do is greet people, accept packages, and keep the sales people away.

Sounds okay, except this is no ordinary facility. Behind the employees-only blue doors, scientists conducted their experiments on . . . dead bodies. Yes, Fovea's parents had a cadaver lab. Fovea didn't want to know what happened beyond the front lobby.

Although she has to put up with morbid jokes from her classmates, Fovea's situation is not all that bad. Until one day, when she thinks she's alone, she hears people talking inside the lab. Against her better judgment, she takes a peek, and sees three talking heads . . . literally. Three heads, no bodies, having a bickering conversation. Yikes!

From there Fovea's summer begins to spin out of control. A search for a missing specimen, messed-up orders, a blackmailing bad guy, a goofy grandmother, and an erstwhile friend add to the spooky good fun. The story is told from Fovea's perspective, and her humor and spunk shine through.

Despite the setting and the talking (& singing!) body-less heads, there is more humor and madcap adventure then there is scary. Heider's The Mortification of Fovea Munson is definitely middle grade appropriate and the puns and escapades will have the whole family either groaning or laughing.

Thanks again to Disney Book Group for the chance to get to know Fovea (though I received a review copy of the novel, my thoughts are my honest opinion).

The Giveaway

If you're looking to get into the Halloween mood, search no more. Thanks to Disney Book Group, I'm able to offer one my readers (with a USA mailing address) a fabulous bookish Halloween prize pack.

Not only will one of you get a copy of Mary Winn Heider's The Mortification of Fovea Munson but you'll also get three more great books from the Disney Book Group (I've read two of them, so I know they're good).

• First is the graphic novel eidition Melissa de la Cruz's The Isle of the Lost adapted by Robert Venditti and illustrated by Kat Fajardo. This is a fun story starring the children of famous fairy tale characters. 
• Next is Jonathan Stroud's The Screaming Staircase, which is the first in a series set in a haunted London. In these stories, ghost-seeing teens solve mysteries and help save the city. 
• Finally is Alexandra Bracken's The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding, which is about a boy who thinks he's the only ordinary member of his family. Then one day he discovers the demon living within him.

Check out the fabulous book covers:

All you have to do to be entered for a chance to win all four books is to have a USA mailing address and to fill out the following form. On October 24, I'll pick a winner using a random number generator. Once the winner has been confirmed, I'll send his or her address along to the publisher, who will send out the prize pack. At that time, I'll also erase all personal information from my computer. Good luck!