Cover Image: The Extremely Weird Thing that Happened in Huggabie Falls

The Extremely Weird Thing that Happened in Huggabie Falls

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

I read this to my children and they really enjoyed it. The illustrations were well drawn and made the story come alive. Highly recommend.

Was this review helpful?

The premise of the book is great and the author really delivers. Great read. Highly recommended. .

Was this review helpful?

See my full review on my website <a href="https://iammediatron.wixsite.com/mediatron/post/the-extremely-weird-review-that-happened-in-huggabie-falls">here</a>.

Huggabie Falls is weird - probably the weirdest town on Earth! Every road is named Digmont Drive, everyone’s first and last names start with the same letter, normal is weird and weird is normal. And if the town itself is strange, the people who live there are even weirder. There’s a teacher who is also a witch, a baby who can do backflips, a pirate-hating pirate who lives in a multi-story trailer, a family of interdimensional beings whose house is upside down and inside out, a lab rat who speaks Portuguese, and a kid who may or may not have turned into a toilet.

But then the WEIRDEST thing happens. One might say it was EXTREMELY WEIRD: everything begins to turn normal! Kipp Kindle and his friends Tobias Treachery and Cymphany Chan decide to investigate and save the town - and they think it may have something to do with the newly established Dark’s Weirdness Investigation and Eradication Agency. But Cymphany, the only normal person in the town, has started acting strange - is she possessed by this terrifying and extremely weird spell that seems to have fallen over the town? Will the kids be able to save the town and return it to its normal weirdness?

This book is illustrated by Andrew Weldon, who manages to successfully capture the weirdness happening in Huggabie Falls in black and white drawings. There's so many small details, in fact, one might think he may have taken pictures with a camera as he watched the events unfold in person. But as Adam Cece repeatedly promises, our faithful storytellers are just relaying the story and weren't actually in Huggabie Falls. Or were they? You decide.

I have to admit that I, a 25 year old working on a PhD who mostly sees herself as an intellectual, have a major soft spot in my heart for whack-a-doodle books. This may have something to do with being exposed to nutty writing Gods like Shel Silverstein and Peggy Parish (who may or may not be from Huggabie Falls themselves with those names) during my extremely impressionable younger years. Whatever the reason, I will very rarely choose what some may call “fine literature” or “scholarly work” over something with a title like “Stink-Bomb and Ketchup Face.” Besides, I often find silly stories like these have good themes and lessons, like to be good to your friends, always do the right thing even if it’s hard, and to never, ever, ever hypnotize your principal, no matter how grumpy he is.

It is not often I compare a writer I have never heard of before to my “goofy kids book” idols like Terry Pratchett, Roald Dahl, RL Stine, and Debbie Dady/Marcia Thornton Jones. Andy Griffiths of The Treehouse Books and Alex Hirsch of Gravity Falls are a couple of the only recent additions to those ranks.

But Adam Cece joined those ranks within the first page of Huggabie Falls. Cece has a talent for hilarious and creative writing - some of his lines remind me of Series of Unfortunate Events, some remind me of Captain Underpants, and all of them are super fun. Take this one for example: “I know how the children felt - exactly the same thing happened to me, with my fear of keyboards. This was an affliction that greatly hampered my career as a writer. But after years of hypnotherapy I am no longer petrified of keyboards, and I‘m now able to use one, albeit only while blindfolded.”

I absolutely cannot wait to read the rest of the series and any future books he writes. If this sounds like high praise, it is; and if it doesn’t sound like high praise, you’re just plain weird.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated in any other fashion and all opinions on the book are my own and no one else’s unless otherwise indicated. Special thanks to the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book.

Was this review helpful?

After a lot of stop-starting my kids and I finally go through this book. I loved the cover and the title, and thought it would be a crack up of a book. And to be honest there were moments that made us all laugh! However I guess I was hoping for a Treehouse kind of zany book and this one felt a little short.

I do really enjoy books that have a lot of pictures dispersed with text, and they can be really good for struggling readers, so I do commend the author for that. We probably won't pick up the next one though sorry.

Was this review helpful?

Yet another fabulously fun book full of weird things. I wish I could be a fly on Adam's wall just to see how he comes up with such amazing material can't wait to read more

Was this review helpful?

This book was not for adults who like middle grade books, it's just too awful. Kids will love it probably, if they aren't too smart and are easily amused.

This book was a mix of all kinds of books. It took pieces of Harry Potter, Series of Unfortunate Events, Patterson's kids books plus more, put them all into a blender and wrote what popped out.

It was entertaining at times, but was more annoying more. It just was not fun. It was a shame because it's a good premise, but it just tried too hard. Rather than go with a good story and stand on its own, it tried to mimic all kinds of books and over did things. It wasn't good. :/

Kids will love it! Adults stay away.

Was this review helpful?

The first thing that caught my attention was the tone of the main character . It seemed so raw and natural that I could not help but get attached to them.

Before I say what I don’t like know that I am huge fan of children’s books so much that it’s like the only thing that catches my attention.. I liked the idea and the premise of the story was wonderful

But,I couldn’t even finish this book cause of much it was dragging on about the weird event. It took so long, yes I know it’s a children’s book but normally I get attached so easily to them in a matter of seconds. The first chapter really caught my attention but after a while it seemed like all it was trying to was block out the event.

Other then that the writing was unique. All the characters seemed so genuine that I wished I could finish it but I’m sad that I cannot

Was this review helpful?

Looking for a fun read? This book is for you! Rollicking fun with hilarious quips from the narrator. Everyone in this town is weird until one day they change and nothing is the same for our three heroes again unless they can reverse it. Stay around to find out the weirdness in Kipp's family... I did not guess this! Recommended for tweens with a warped sense of humour and a taste for the macabre.

Was this review helpful?

Wonderful book for children of ages 6=7. Lots of funny drawing and funny story, and a great message.

Was this review helpful?

Very strange book. The author has created such a wild and wonderful world. This being said I found it dragged on a bit too much for me.

Was this review helpful?

My son loved this book! As a HUGE Treehouse book fan I just knew he would want to read this and keep reading until the very end. He read it the first two weeks of school for his nightly homework. He laughed and giggled and told me all about how our family may be related to Kips lol and when he told me why I couldn't help but giggle along with him. I can not wait to see what comes next so my kiddo can keep reading on!

Was this review helpful?

This is an inoffensive book that tries very hard, but never caught my attention. Using the word weird over and over again just wasn't enough.

Was this review helpful?

First up, thank you for this book.

I haven't finished the book and I will tell you why. Because I got tired of that Extremely Weird Thing That happened. It is constantly mentioned, constantly talked about, and instead of getting to the fucking point, it just kept dawdling.

It also doesn't work that I had to read this book on my PC. Yes, there is a kindle format out, but it is badly formatted, the illustrations are gone, I gave up on reading that one after 5 pages.

It felt to me like I was reading a second book instead of a first book (or is this actually a second book and did I miss a memo). Yes, the whole weird thing took ages, but all the rest... I just felt like I had to run to make sure I could keep up with all the things happening.

The sentences just didn't flow. I am not too sure how to explain this one properly, sorry. Maybe in Dutch I would, but in English I just can't find the right words to explain.

And lastly, the art was not a favourite of mine. Not saying it was bad, it just wasn't for me.

Was this review helpful?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Was this review helpful?