Fans of the Nevermoor series will likely fall in love with Steven Banbury’s debut novel for middle grade readers, The Pumpkin Princess and the Forever Night.
Banbury’s magical novel opens as an orphan is attempting yet another escape from the orphanage. Pursued by the orphanage’s two hounds, Watcher and Curfew, our protagonist, logical and unafraid, plots and schemes as she flees. Desperate not to just run away, but to run to something keeps her dedicated to her escape plan as she seeks to find “the happiness she has always read about in books and wants so badly for herself” (13). Fearlessly looking for a home, she is not ready to accept the headmistress’ assessment of her, that she is not an easy child, but one that is broken.
Eventually, she is trapped but rescued by the Pumpkin King who, every Halloween, goes out searching for lost souls. Although fearsome, our young protagonist shows the Pumpkin King no fear. Intrigued by her courage and her defiance, the Pumpkin King asks her name, a question to which she replies: “I don’t have one” (10). Because this discovery occurs on All Hallow’s Eve, the Pumpkin King names her Eve and declares her his daughter, who will become the Pumpkin Princess of Hallowell.
Joining a community of werewolves, vampires, witches, trolls, mummies, ghosts, goblins, and various other undead, Eve will be the only living being in the Hallowell Valley. The Pumpkin King established Hallowell as a sanctuary for the undead and for “those persecuted by the living for being different” (60).
Gradually, Eve comes to call Hallowell home and the Pumpkin King her father. She also befriends Lyla Creswick and Vlad Jr. the 12th Jr. Jr. Lyla, a witch with a matter-of-fact approach whose spells go a bit haywire but whose cauldron magic is becoming legendary, and Vlad, a young vampire with a talent for invention and innovation, bond to Eve.
Although the stewardship of the Pumpkin King feeds and protects all of Hallowell, there are those who would like to see him powerless. Some would also like to see Eve banished since Hallowell is no place for the living. When the town’s supply of Moon Thistle goes missing, the three friends are determined to solve the mystery. After all, this is a rare plant that grows only in certain parts of the valley and is used for healing certain magical burns. “But in the wrong hands it can be used for all kinds of powerful spells and dangerous moon rituals” (165).
When one night the moon is chained and the sun doesn’t shine the following morning, the Pumpkin King’s power begins to drain. Feeling that her coveted life with a family will be pulled from her, Eve invites her friends to help her discover the cause of this development and its sorcery. What the three uncover is a far more sinister plan. Whether the trio will succeed in their attempt to save Hallowell will be for the reader to discover.
From the cleverly cast scarecrow Scrags to the formidable vampire Baroness Malvina La’Ment, Banbury has created a cast of characters that will entertain readers and a whimsical plot laced with adventure.
- Donna