The Spook's Curse - Joseph Delaney

The Spook's Curse is the sequel to The Spook's Apprentice. In this second book of "The Wardstone Chronicles", six months have passed since Thomas defeated Mother Malkin the witch, and Alice has gone to live with her non-witch Aunt on the coast. Now the Spook and his apprentice have travelled to Priestown to attend the Spook's brother's funeral and to deal with some unfinished business. Deep in the catacombs of the cathedral lurks the Spook's nemesis - The Bane - a creature he has been unable to defeat. As Thomas and his master prepare for the battle of their lives it becomes clear that The Bane isn't their only enemy in town. The Quisitor has arrived, searching the county for those who meddle with the dark - witches, warlocks, and Spooks ! When the Spook is arrested and sentenced to death it's up to Thomas, with a little help from his old friend Alice, to rescue his master and save the County, if they can. But Thomas has found out that someone once put a curse on the Spook, that he will die far underground, without a friend at his side, and whilst Thomas is not quite sure yet whether the Spook is actually a friend, he cares too much about his master to want to allow the curse to come true - but preventing it from coming true means risking not only his own life, but also the possibility that the Bane will not only escape its own destruction, but will destroy the County too.

The third book in "The Wardstone Chronicles" series, The Spook's Secret, is out next month, and I shall be asking the library if they're getting a copy as this series is quite gripping. Tom Ward is a rather impetuous boy, but good-hearted and incredibly brave.

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I've posted a spoilerish review of Kate DiCamillo's Because of Winn-Dixie over on the Scholar's Blog Spoiler Zone.

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I finally got around to watching The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe movie today, after a friend loaned it to me, and I enjoyed it. The effects were stunning, Tilda Swinton was very good as the horrible White Witch Jadis, and they seemed to get all the essentials of the story in (although I confess it's been nearly 20 years since I last read the book, so I don't recall much of the fine detail !)