The Secret of Zoone by Lee Edward Fodi
Published by HarperCollins on April 9th 2019
ISBN: 0062845268
Pages: 352
Goodreads

This is a Fantasy for 3-6 grader readers who are fans of different creatures, different worlds and magic.  Ozzie, who feels neglected by his parents and lashes out at his guardian Aunt Temperance, finds himself in the fantastical and magically dangerous world of Zoone.  Zoone is the multiverse or connecting point, visualize a train station,  that allows magical creatures or citizens of different worlds to travel through doors to other worlds.   Ozzie finds himself befriended by a loveable blue Skyger named Tug and given the responsibility of being a porter at the busy transfer station on the eve of the important Wizard Council.   The fate of Ozzie’s Earth, known as Eridea in Zoone, hangs in the balance as the greedy and dangerous Crogus has been let out of isolation and with the help of a secret assistant plans to destroy Zoone.  Ozzie after many missteps and catastrophes finds his purpose in Zoone and is able to equate that awareness to his earth existence.  Most of the world building happens through an action driven plot.  The doors play a major role in the landscape, reminiscent of the many doors of Monsters, Inc.  The ending, although satisfying, sets itself up for a potential sequel.  Libraries will want to check their copies ordered.  The review copy and the copy owned by the reviewer’s library had various pages in the 200’s misplaced incorrectly.  A new copy was received in Aug 2019 and the mistakes were corrected.

Reviewed by Sheila Dube, Springvale Public Library