The stone toad is back! From the author of the upcoming Diary of a Mad Brownie , this follow-up to the bestselling Goblins in the Castle blends laugh-out-loud humor with fantasy and edge-of-your-seat adventure. In the year since William and Fauna freed the goblins from imprisonment in Toad-in-a-Cage Castle, peace has reigned over both the human and goblin kingdoms. Then one cold night William receives a strange book from an unknown visitor, a book that leads him and Fauna to the mysterious stone toad that sits in the castle’s Great Hall. When an accidental spell brings the stone creature to life, the giant toad hops away—with William between its jaws! Fauna is no match for a ten-foot-tall frog made of rock, but she has magic—and a good amount of grit—on her side. Determined to save her friend, Fauna ventures forth on a journey through dangerous lands filled with fearsome giants, talking bears, and packs of rogue goblins. And in order to save William and reveal the mystery behind the stone toad, Fauna might have to divulge a secret that could turn her friends against her forever. Gr 3–6—A sequel 23 years in the making! William, from 1992's Goblins in the Castle (Aladdin), is back, and is now revered as "The William," because he freed the goblins from an imprisonment spell. He and his friend, Fauna, a girl who lives alone in the woods to hide her own terrible secret, have been invited to a party at Toad-in-a-Cage Castle to celebrate the anniversary of this momentous event. Unfortunately, the stone toad, (for whom the aforementioned castle is named) turns out to have a spell on it, too. When the pair unwittingly releases the magical toad from the spell, it springs to life and captures William, taking him deep into the forest. An unlikely crew sets out to help Fauna save him, including a ghost, an Igor (no one is quite sure what he is), and Bwoonhiwda, the Queen's strong-arm with an unfortunate speech impediment. This wildly imaginative tale stands alone, but will likely send many new fans on the hunt for the first book. With a fast pace and so many fun characters, it absolutely begs to be read aloud in an upper elementary classroom. VERDICT Fauna is a heroine with heart; fantasy-adventure fans will be biting their nails and chuckling out loud with every twist and turn.—Mandy Laferriere, Fowler Middle School, Frisco, TX Bruce Coville has published more than one hundred books, which have sold more than sixteen million copies. Among his most popular titles are My Teacher Is an Alien , Into the Land of the Unicorns , and The Monster’s Ring . Bruce also founded Full Cast Audio, a company that creates recordings of the best in children’s and young adult literature. He lives in Syracuse, New York, with his wife, Katherine. Visit him at BruceCoville.com. Goblins on the Prowl When goblins are good, they are very, very good. But when they are bad, they’re stinkers. —Stanklo the Scribbler CHAPTER ONE INVITATION It started the day five goblins searched my cottage. I was setting a snare to catch a rabbit when I heard them coming, though I didn’t know yet they were goblins. I stuffed my twine into my pocket and scrambled up a nearby tree. I wasn’t afraid, but a girl living alone in the forest has to be careful. I try not to let people see me until I know who they are and what they are up to. Soon the goblins came into sight. They were being unusually quiet, for goblins, sneaking along with only an occasional fart to announce their presence. Since I am officially a “Goblin Friend,” I should not have been frightened by seeing them. But I could tell something was not right. The reason I am a Goblin Friend is that I helped my human friend, William, do the goblins a big favor after he freed them from the spell that had imprisoned them in Toad-in-a-Cage Castle for a hundred and twenty-one years. The reason I was frightened was that when William and I had left Nilbog, the goblins had been planning to stay in their underground home for a long time, to recover from their terrible experience in the human world. So what were these goblins doing “up top”? And why were they looking over their shoulders and hiding behind trees, rather than bounding through the forest as goblins normally would? I waited until they were a little way ahead of me, then dropped to the ground to follow them. They numbered five in all, two with tails, three without. The shortest stood only a little higher than my waist but seemed to be the leader. They wore red headbands, which I had not seen goblins do before. It didn’t take long to realize they were heading for my cottage. Were they coming with a message . . . or were they planning mischief? Goblin mischief, when goblins are not crazy, is not too bad. And they tend to make up for it by also doing housework. I wouldn’t have minded having them clean up my cottage some. I’d been fixing it up since I’d found it, but it was still a mess. Not that I was going to stay there mu