I finished Fibble: Where the Lying Kids Go by Dale E Basye last night. The fourth installment in the Heck series happily lives up to its predecessors.
We pick up with Milton and Marlo Fauster in their respective adventures in Heck, namely the fourth circle called Fibble, which resembles a three-ring circus complete with big tops and circus tents. The vice principal of Fibble is none other than P.T. Barnum, this time with flaming pants and a horde of shrimp goons. The story of Fibble focuses a little more on Marlo's adventure in the circle, as she is trapped in her brother's body; picking up where Blimpo left off, the Fauster siblings are traveling around in each other's bodies. Being trapped in Milton's body is awkward enough, without being around the dreamy boy she met in Rapacia, Zane, who is now in Fibble. Besides trying not to flirt with Zane in her brother's body, Marlo has to navigate Barnum's web of lies and deceptions in order to stop the ring leader's plan to send underworld products up to the surface in a twisted marketing scheme. In between trying to avoid the mind-numbing blanket of lies, Marlo has to endure yellow journalism class with Mr. Hearst, voodoo economics with Nixon, and a pseudo prophecy class with Nostradamus. There's a bigger scheme going on with Barnumn and Fibble and Marlo is determined to figure it out.
While Marlo is Milton on Fibble, Milton is Marlo in her infernship with Satan's new production company: T.H.E.E.N.D., a TV station that has found a way to beam its underworldly shows up onto the surface. Milton's supervisor in the studio is Orson Welles, who tries to relive his surface glory days. Milton finds himself in charge of picking the shows for the new TV station and preview submissions to the lineup. One video rubs him the wrong way and seems more real than any of the other entries. Milton slowly realizes that the TV show named "The Man Who Soldeth The World" is in fact real and that the Earth is really being sold to aliens, and the reality deal is going down in video installments. Milton isn't sure how to stop the selling of the earth, or the growing plot to send to world into premature apocalypse due to the uber religious shows being broadcast by T.H.E.E.N.D. that are sending the people on the surface into faith-based riots. There is a grand scheme to sell the world and it is somehow linked to the goings-on down in Fibble. Towards the end of the book, the two siblings finally reunite in a last ditch effort to thwart the plot against the world.
Fibble is another great entry into the Heck series, as I stated before. It maintains the twisted humor, dark commentary, and tongue-n-cheek play on words that made the first three books so much fun. The book focuses on the thin line between truth and lies, pointing out some of the ways that the world and people twist and turn things to make them appear far better than what they really are worth. It also enlightens the little lies we tell ourselves, and the devastating impact one endures when one finally breaks down and takes a hard look at who they really are. Basye does a terrific job blending the twisted humor and childish gross-out elements with more adult themes---and by "adult themes" I mean the heavier, more mature themes of faith, life and death, personal reflections, and self-sacrifice for the greater good. This is a great series that works for both adults and children, much like how Pixar films have the obvious child-level humor but then on another level there's the humor/story that's aimed at the adults that children won't get until they watch Toy Story, WALL*E, or UP again in 10+ years.
Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go: 8
Rapacia: The Second Circle of Heck:
Where the Greedy Kids Go: 7.5
Blimpo: The Third Circle of Heck:
Where the Fat Kids Go: 7.5
Fibble: The Fourth Circle of Heck:
Where the Lying Kids Go: 7
Circles of Heck series thus far: 7.5
I can't recommend this series enough. In fact, I just borrowed my copy of Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go to a friend of mine so she can enjoy the greatness of this series as well. The fifth book, Snivel: Where the Whiny Kids Go is out now, in hardcover. I will have to wait for roughly a year for the paperback to come out. I don't know what it is, but I can't read hardcovers. I can count the number of hardcover books I've consciously, purposefully read on one hand. But, if you can read multi-coverd books, go out and buy the hardcover and read away! And while you're at it, pick up the other four books, too!
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