The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge

Subverting convention, award-winning creators M. T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin pair up for an anarchic, outlandish, and deeply political saga of warring elf and goblin kingdoms.

Uptight elfin historian Brangwain Spurge is on a mission: survive being catapulted across the mountains into goblin territory, deliver a priceless peace offering to their mysterious dark lord, and spy on the goblin kingdom -- from which no elf has returned alive in more than a hundred years. Brangwain's host, the goblin archivist Werfel, is delighted to show Brangwain around. They should be the best of friends, but a series of extraordinary double crosses, blunders, and cultural misunderstandings throws these two bumbling scholars into the middle of an international crisis that may spell death for them -- and war for their nations. Witty mixed media illustrations show Brangwain's furtive missives back to the elf kingdom, while Werfel's determinedly unbiased narrative tells an entirely different story. A hilarious and biting social commentary that could only come from the likes of National Book Award winner M. T. Anderson and Newbery Honoree Eugene Yelchin, this tale is rife with thrilling action and visual humor . . . and a comic disparity that suggests the ultimate victor in a war is perhaps not who won the battles, but who gets to write the history.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA)
Published: 09/25/2018
ISBN: 9780763698225
Pages: 544
Weight: 1.90lbs
Size: 8.30h x 6.00w x 1.50d
Award: National Book Awards - Finalist

Review Citations: Voice of Youth Advocates 06/01/2018 - Recommended - Better Than Most
Booklist 06/01/2018 pg. 97
Kirkus Reviews 07/01/2018 pg. 104
Publishers Weekly 08/06/2018
Horn Book Magazine 09/01/2018 pg. 75
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 09/01/2018
BookPage 10/01/2018
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2019 - Outstanding, Noteworthy In Style

Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 197012 / Assassination of Brangwain Spurge
Reading Level: 5.3 / Interest Level: Middle Grade / Point Value: 6