Maddie in Danger

Krystyna J. Higgins is the book review editor of the Toronto-based
Catholic New Times.

In this variation of the “home alone” theme, four siblings are left
in the care of their grandma while their parents take a trip. Maddie and
her brother Alexander manage to rent a video of The Exterminator, a
movie their parents have forbidden as being too violent. The nightmares
they experience as a result of watching the video become all too
realistic when gang warfare threatens to erupt. Fortunately, Gran’s
commonsense approach puts things right—except for the consequences
Maddie anticipates once her parents find out what has happened!

Originally published in French, this large-print chapter book is the
fifth Maddie story in Formac’s First Novel series. The book’s
strongest points are its humor and the depiction of two gutsy female
characters. A major weakness, however, is that one cannot tell if Maddie
in Danger is intended as a comedy, an “issue” book, or a horror
adventure. Also, there is a puzzling discrepancy (which may be a problem
of translation) between the easy-to-read format and the vocabulary,
which includes such words as “writhing,” “phosphorescent,” and
“resuscitate.” And finally, the cartoon-style black-and-white
drawings add little to the text. Not a first-choice purchase.