Ghoulish Song

Not as front-and-center as it was in Goblin Secrets, but still significant, is that the "coal" that fuels Zombay's engines is made from the hearts of the dead. Kaile and others do battle with a ghoul made of bones by playing music. While separated from her shadow, Kaile faces many threats of violence and dismemberment if she doesn't stay away. The apparent suicide of a woman in the distant past has a profound impact on plot developments. Bakers who run afoul of the clockwork-enhanced Guard are imprisoned in a cage and dunked many times in the river, and this happens to one beloved character.

Kaile's family serves a lot of ale to their customers, though it's mostly the very weak light ale; her mother carefully guards the stronger stuff.

Parents need to know that Ghoulish Song is not a sequel to author William Alexander's Goblin Secrets, winner of the 2012 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, although some of the original's characters make cameo appearances here. Set amid the steampunkish trappings of the town of Zombay, it presents assorted creepy stuff as part of the landscape, from a ghoul made of bones who threatens the entire town to gruesome fates that threaten young heroine Kaile when she's separated from her shadow. Kaile faces many threats of violence and dismemberment if she doesn't stay away. The apparent suicide of a woman in the distant past has a profound impact on plot developments. There's one use of "pissing" to mean "complaining." But overall, it's an appealing, positive, often funny tale in which friendship, family bonds, kindness, music, and resourcefulness all come into play.