The Tasters Guild

July 15, 2010
Fertile settings drown in swollen prose. This middle installment follows Ivy and Rowan though the land of Caux and into the alternate realm of Pimcaux, where Caux's exiled king is ill. Ivy's destiny, as the long-prophesied Noble Child, is to cure the king with her poisoning/healing skills and bring him back to Caux. Top evildoer Verjouce seeks an ancient, addictive plant—"scourge bracken," aka "Kingmaker"—for magical inks and world dominion; Ivy ingests some and it poisons her soul. Appelbaum's ideas are lush (poison; vivid insects and plants; trestlemen and alewives living under bridges to guard water; Flower Language) and could have vitalized her borrowed fantasy tropes (absolute good and evil; one noble child; predictable parentage revelation; Kingmaker's similarity to Tolkien's One Ring), if not for the prose's thick brew of modifiers. Swarming adverbs and adjectives, an awkwardly elevated narrative voice and choppy flow suffocate freshness. Physical traits (blindness especially) embody evil. Interesting concepts, but more like Ivy's poisons than her potions. (Flower Language glossary) (Fantasy. 9-12)

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August 1, 2010

Gr 4-7-This second book in the trilogy continues 11-year-old Ivy's quest to fulfill her role as the prophesied "Noble Child" destined to cure her country's rightful king from a strange illness. In The Hollow Bettle (Knopf, 2009), Ivy defeated the evil monarch who usurped control of Caux from good King Verdigris and had a penchant for poisoning the unhappy population. Those with money hired food tasters trained by the secretive Tasters Guild to keep from becoming a victim. Ivy and her friend Rowan, an inept Guild-trained taster, were forced to run away after he failed to detect poison in his employer's food. Now they must save King Verdigris. Many of Verjouce's henchmen pursue them but Ivy's most persistent enemy is Sorrel Flux, her former taster, who keeps trying to kill her. When Ivy's exposed to a deadly weed that can transport its victims to a dark realm, she's not sure she can defeat it. This inventive story is full of strange and mysterious characters with peculiar names and viscerally descriptive locations. Kids are sure to love it.-Sharon Rawlins, New Jersey State Library, Trenton

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2010
Grades 4-7 Poison Ivy and her friends search for a magical doorway on their quest to save the king from his illness and deliver the people of Caux from the clutches of the malevolent guild of food testers. Can Ivy find the king before the guild finds her? In this second book in the Poisons of Caux series, Appelbaum continues to thrill, with vivid descriptions and inspired plot twists. Here is an imaginary place replete with tasty villains and true-hearted heroines, a worthy next step from Kate DiCamillos Tale of Despereaux (2003) or Brian Jacques Redwall series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2011
In this labyrinthine sequel to The Hollow Bettle, apothecary and "Noble Child" Ivy must find the door to Pimcaux and prevent evil Vidal Verjouce from obtaining scourge bracken; if he does, "Caux's green earth will be reduced to ash." The adventure is imaginative and exciting, though in the end, it feels a bit like a wild goose chase.

(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)