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Formats
Paperback Details
  • 10/2021
  • 978-1-7357829-4-2 1735782920
  • 186 pages
  • $9.99
Ebook Details
  • 10/2021
  • 978-1-7357829-3-5 B09HRNWDJ9
  • 186 pages
  • $4.99
Elena Southworth
Author
The Harpers' Holiday Horror
A smothering mother, an alien brother, TV-stealing grandmas, a purple puppy—is anyone normal in rascally nine-year-old Aaliyah’s family? From bestselling teenage author Elena Southworth. Sibling rivalry has met its match with the hilarious hijinks from this big brother-little sister duo, sure to delight readers with one ridiculous situation after the next. She doesn’t mean it but whenever nine-year-old Aaliyah Harper does anything, utter madness ensues. Couple that with a stifling mother who calls her The Baby, two trouble-seeking grandmas, an alien brother, and a family road-trip vacation and it’s a recipe for disaster. What could possibly go wrong? Author Elena Southworth brings middle-graders a rousing story of a sibling showdown with book two in her Big Brother, Little Sister series, The Harpers’ Holiday Horror, and shows young readers that, no matter how crazy and irksome things get, family always wins. Aaliyah’s innocent escapades somehow land her hiding in a hotel’s dirty laundry cart, being locked in an ice-skating pond’s bathroom, accidentally dying Grandma Agnes’s new puppy purple, finding her family on the evening news after “borrowing” a river raft, witnessing her two grandmas swiping a fire truck to take out on a joyride (only to have to bail them out of jail), requiring multiple police responses in less than twenty-four hours, celebrating with a cactus for a Christmas tree, and having the hotel manager say they are “the most annoying family” he has dealt with in twenty years after giving them the boot from their room. Aaliyah may be troublesome and a magnet for mayhem, but her eccentric family knows that adventure and humor will follow.
Reviews
The holidays are always guaranteed to be a hectic and eventful time for any family, but you haven’t faced the heights of dysfunction and holiday hijinx until you’ve met the Harpers. Nine-year-old Aaliyah is sure that her brother is an alien; eighteen-year-old Matthew wonders why his mom only ever pays attention to “the baby,” Aaliyah; and the grandmas are up to no good. In a fast-paced and seemingly never-ending string of mishaps after misdemeanors, the antics of this larger than life family never seem to let up. Southworth’s The Harpers’ Holiday Horror is a playful and eventful second novel in the Big Brother Little Sister series.

Sure to entertain and delight readers with its outlandish antics—an exploding microwave! A stolen TV that causes a traffic jam! Grandmas in jail! A stolen raft at the Grand Canyon!—The Harpers’ Holiday Horror feels like a younger cousin to snarky yet heartfelt entertainments like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Packed with bumptious incidents and characters, this lively seasonal follow-up at times can feel bogged down or lacking narrative momentum, as it affords point-of-view passages to a host of Harpers and others, even if only for one sentence, including the dog, amusingly named Chicken. The POVs from strangers seem to underscore how odd and annoying the Harpers and their mischief can be, but many of these characters (including some Harpers) lack a distinct and unique voice.

The most compelling relationship in the book is between Aaliyah and Matthew, who feel like real, if exaggerated, siblings—constantly annoyed with each other and getting into arguments, but ultimately have each other’s backs at the end of the day. Ultimately an ode to the bonds of family, no matter how much they cost or annoy you, Southworth’s raucous story is a unique addition to the mischievous kids' tradition.

Takeaway: The holiday shenanigans of this family of mischief makers is sure to delight young readers.

Great for fans of: Caleb Zane Huett’s Top Elf, Kim Baker’s Pickle: The (Formerly) Anonymous Prank Club of Fountain Point Middle School.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: B
Marketing copy: A

Formats
Paperback Details
  • 10/2021
  • 978-1-7357829-4-2 1735782920
  • 186 pages
  • $9.99
Ebook Details
  • 10/2021
  • 978-1-7357829-3-5 B09HRNWDJ9
  • 186 pages
  • $4.99
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