Kid vs. Squid

The citizens of Atlantis are stuck selling cotton candy on the boardwalk, and only our hero can help

Thatcher Hill is bored stiff of his summer job dusting the fake mermaids and shrunken heads at his uncle’s seaside Museum of Curiosities. But when a mysterious girl steals an artifact from the museum, Thatcher’s summer becomes an adventure that takes him from the top of the ferris wheel to the depths of the sea. Following the thief, he learns that she is a princess of the lost Atlantis. Her people have been cursed by an evil witch to drift at sea all winter and wash up on shore each summer to an even more terrible fate-working the midway games and food stands on the boardwalk. Can Thatcher help save them before he, too, succumbs to the witch’s curse?

 

 

Praise

“This is the perfect book for middle school boys and reluctant readers. The hysterical dialogue, bizarre sea creatures, and action packed fight scenes will latch on to the reader with tentacle-like suction! I dare you to read this book and not enjoy it!”

—Summer Moser, Summer's Stories, Kendallville, IN

“I laughed aloud on almost every page. This book is un-putdownably compelling and fun.”

—Sarah Prineas, author of The Magic Thief

“Van Eekhout carefully balances his tongue in his cheek with some really creepy situations, and the result is a humorous fantasy that will rush over young readers like a tidal wave.”

—School Library Journal

“Eekhout chivvies the plot along at a lively pace to a hold-your-breath climax and a deftly choreographed resolution. He also leaves the main characters around for sequels—which in this case, at least, could be a Good Thing.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“The internal logic of the story is joyfully convoluted and not even close to airtight, and although the book is better at being funny than being exciting, it does offer a fair share of both en route to the showdown promised by the title.”

—Booklist