The Girl with the Destructo Touch

Billy Hooten, Owlboy #2

by Thomas E. Sniegoski, Eric Powell (Illustrations)

One day, using the magical passage that will take him to Monstros City, Billy forgets to close the door to the crypt, and is followed by . . . Victoria. Oh, no . Victoria is Billy's neighbor, his constant shadow, and a huge pain in the butt. Worse, Monstros City seems to exaggerate the traits people have in Bradbury—and Victoria arrives in Monstros with something that Billy and Archebold name the Destructo Touch. Owlboy is supposed to protect Monstros City—but has he just introduced the agent of its destruction?

234 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2007

About the author

Thomas E. Sniegoski, often credited as Tom Sniegoski is the author of more than two dozen novels for adults, teens, and children. His teen fantasy YA series Fallen was adapted into a trilogy of monstrously successful TV movies by ABC Family Channel. His other books for teens include Sleeper Code, Sleeper Agenda, and Force Majeure, as well as the upcoming series The Brimstone Network. The author's first adult novel, A Kiss Before the Apocalypse, hit the shelves in 2008, with its sequel, Dancing on the Head of a Pin to be released in 2009.

Sniegoski's work for younger readers includes Billy Hooten: Owlboy, and the fantasy quartet OutCast, which he co-authored with Christopher Golden. OutCast is in development as a film at Universal. Sniegoski and Golden have also collaborated on the adult dark fantasy series The Menagerie, and multiple creator-owned comic book series, including The Sisterhood, which is being prepped for a feature film by InterMedia, and Talent, currently in development at Universal after a major bidding war.

As a comic book writer, Sniegoski's work includes Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails, a prequel miniseries to international hit, Bone. Sniegoski collaborated with Bone creator Jeff Smith on the prequel, making him the only writer Smith has ever asked to work on those characters. Sniegoski and Golden also wrote the graphic novel BPRD: Hollow Earth, a spinoff from Hellboy.

Sniegoski was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his wife LeeAnne and their Labrador Retriever, Mulder. Tom recently completed the new young adult novel, Legacy, which is set to be released in October of 2009.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun series for kids. Billy Hooten has found a secret entrance to Monstro City in the cemetery next to his house. There, he's the superhero, Owlboy. In this book, Victoria, his 5 year old neighbor sees him and follows him to Monstro City where she gets tricked by the the next generation of monsters that run the local mob. It's fun stuff that I think kids will eat up.

[Conan Tigard · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Girl With the Destructo Touch is another fun-filled heroic adventure book by Thomas E. Sniegoski starring Billy Hooten as Owlboy. I loved the first book in this series and this one is just as entertaining. I was shocked to find that "The Girl With The Destructo Touch" was Billy's five year-old neighbor Victoria. I was expecting some kind of super villain that wrecks havoc on Monstros City that would be truly evil.

Victoria's superpower when in Monstros City is pretty awesome, though. The artwork by Eric Powell is also quite wonderful and I wish there was more of it. I enjoyed the introduction of the Sassafras siblings as villains, even though they are not quite as organized as they should be. Of course, we get to discover more of Owlboy's gadgets, and they are totally cool. Archebold is entertaining as ever and Halifax, the monster that creates all of Owlboy's gadgets and devices, is also present.

I love all of the references to old superhero shows, like the Batman television show from the 1960's starring Adam West ands Burt Ward.

Overall, I highly enjoyed The Girl With the Destructo Touch and find it to be an extremely worthwhile read. Young readers will enjoy imagining themselves in Billy's shoes as he defeats the bad guys and has to deal with other monsters leaving Monstros City and hunting him down in his home town. I cannot wait to read about the further adventures of Owlboy in the next book.

I rated this book a 9 out of 10.