Monday, October 27, 2014

Case Study No. 1633: John Gabriel, the Evil Librarian

Evil Librarian by Michelle Knudsen - Book Trailer
1:43
http://bit.ly/EvilLibrarian #EvilLibrarian

Evil Librarian by Michelle Knudsen

He's young. He's hot. He's also evil. He's . . . the librarian.

When Cynthia Rothschild's best friend, Annie, falls head over heels for the new high-school librarian, Cyn can totally see why. He's really young and super cute and thinks Annie would make an excellent library monitor. But after meeting Mr. Gabriel, Cyn realizes something isn't quite right. Maybe it's the creepy look in the librarian's eyes, or the weird feeling Cyn gets whenever she's around him. Before long Cyn realizes that Mr. Gabriel is, in fact . . . a demon. Now, in addition to saving the school musical from technical disaster and trying not to make a fool of herself with her own hopeless crush, Cyn has to save her best friend from the clutches of the evil librarian, who also seems to be slowly sucking the life force out of the entire student body! From best-selling author Michelle Knudsen, here is the perfect novel for teens who like their horror served up with a bit of romance, plenty of humor, and some pretty hot guys (of both the good and evil variety).

Credits:

Director/Animator: Brent Felker
Illustrator: Barbara Ng
Composer: Joemca
Voice: Jessica Luck
Tags: Evil Librarian YA young adult Book Books Literature (Media Genre) Trailer (Award Discipline) Trailer (Website Category) Library Writing Reading Novel Author paranormal Michelle Knudsen
Added: 1 month ago
From: CandlewickPress
Views: 772

[scene opens with an animated stick figure of a young girl]
NARRATOR: Cynthia Rothschild would say she's a fairly normal sixteen year old girl.
[she waves to the camera, then the scene changes to her standing in the back of her classroom]
NARRATOR: She goes to class.
[the scene changes again to the school cafeteria, where she stands next to another girl]
NARRATOR: She has a best friend, Annie, who she loves like crazy.
[they hug, then the scene changes again to a group of students setting up the scenery for the school play]
NARRATOR: She's the tech director of the school's kick-ass fall musical production of "Sweeney Todd."
[the scene changes to Cynthia by herself, when a young boy slowly zooms into frame from the background]
NARRATOR: Which stars Ryan Halsey ...
[a cartoon heart appears on Cynthia's shirt and starts beating rapidly]
NARRATOR: Who is smart and funny and beautiful and talented and ...
[Ryan ends up standing next to her, as the heart floats off Cynthia and beats between them in mid-air]
NARRATOR: The most perfect creature in the entire universe!
[the heart floats over Ryan's face as Cynthia waves to him
NARRATOR: And who appears to be entirely unaware of Cyn's existence.
[he walks right past her, and the heart ends up crumbling on the floor]
NARRATOR: But Cyn's about to have far bigger things to worry about, because this happens ...
[a young male librarian appears next to her]
NARRATOR: The new librarian.
[she shrugs her shoulders]
NARRATOR: Who turns out to be ridiculously hot.
[she raises her eyebrows]
NARRATOR: But also turns out to be evil ...
[a dog appears next to the librarian, and he promptly kicks it with a wicked smile on his face (as Cynthia frowns)]
NARRATOR: Not, you know, figuratively evil ...
[the librarian suddenly grows giant bat wings, horns on his head, and a tail]
NARRATOR: Actually evil!
[Cynthia's jaw drops, as the "soul" of the dog suddenly leaves its body and floats towards the librarian]
NARRATOR: Depraved, soul-sucking, demonic, literally "from-the-pits-of-hell" evil, with an enormous capital "E"!
[the dog grows pale and wanders off in a zombie-like trance, then Annie appears next to the librarian (with hearts floating around her)]
NARRATOR: And he has his sights set on Annie.
[Cynthia furrows her brow, as Annie disappears and several "zombified" students wander by in the background]
NARRATOR: Now, with half the school wandering around like zombies ...
[the scene changes to students performing the school play]
NARRATOR: Opening night rapidly approaching ...
[the scene changes to Cynthia with a thought balloon over her head, containing the face of Ryan]
NARRATOR: And her traitorous brain increasingly distracted by inappropriate and deliciously detailed fantasies about Ryan ...
[the thought balloon disappears and Ryan is suddenly standing next to her]
NARRATOR: Who is now mixed up in all this craziness with her, but still doesn't seem the least bit romantically interested ...
[he wanders off again, then Annie appears (with little bat wings and an "I [heart] My Library" t-shirt) and stands next to the librarian]
NARRATOR: Cyn has to find a way to save her bewitched BFF from the attractive yet very very very very bad clutches of ...
[the camera zooms in on Cynthia and the librarian, before fading to white]
NARRATOR: The evil librarian!

Available in hardcover, ebook, and audio formats wherever books are sold.
www dot michelleknudsen dot com
www dot candlewick dot com

---

From publishersweekly.com:

Knudsen (The Princess of Trelian) jumps from picture books and middle-grade fiction to YA with this self-aware supernatural dramedy, which sees an ordinary teenage girl caught up in a war between various evil factions, with the souls of her schoolmates at stake. It starts when Cyn Rothchild's best friend Annie inexplicably falls in love with the new school librarian, John Gabriel. Cyn's no stranger to unrequited love—she has a thing for the handsome Ryan Halsey, even if she's too awkward to talk to him—but Annie is acting downright weird. Before long, Cyn learns that Gabriel is a demon out to acquire the power needed to take the throne back home, and her immunity to his influence makes her a wild card. She teams up with Ryan to save Annie and everyone else from an infernal fate. The writing is clever, the tone wry, and the stakes high, with surprises that keep the plot unpredictable. Cyn's internal monologue provides plenty of amusement, especially when her hormones threaten to overpower her common sense. It's an entertaining tale with room for future installments. Ages 14–up.

---

From kirkusreviews.com:

The spirit of Buffy is alive and kicking in this bloody debut for teens from an author better known for her children's books (The Princess of Trelian, 2012, etc.).

Cyn is a backstage genius with an unrequited crush of epic proportions on popular, talented Ryan, the sort of boy who seems to move "in slow motion like some stupid sequence in a bad summer movie." She's got a best friend, she enjoys a healthy relationship with her own carnal desires, and she's snarky and smart and generally the kind of heroine everyone wants. Which is handy, since the hot new librarian is a demon in search of souls to suck as well as a child bride - and he's got his sights set on Cyn's best friend. Luckily, Cyn has a sort of natural demon immunity. And, it turns out, she's got support from Ryan, so she takes on the evil librarian - and then the demonic new principal and a host of other demons, too. Bloodshed and creepy rituals abound, but the horror is always campy and carefully undercut by the entirely realistic, slightly silly nonprogression of Cyn and Ryan's romance (when they finally kiss, it's cathartic for all). Snappily narrated, tightly plotted and generally just right.

Forget paranormal romance; this horror-humor-romance pastiche is where those in search of hot nonhumans should set their sights. (Humorous horror. 13 & up)

No comments:

Post a Comment