Carter and the Curious Maze: Weird Stories Gone Wrong

by Philippa Dowding

Overview

Carter discovers a creepy maze at the fair and travels farther and farther back in time. How will he ever get back to the present?

The fair is dull, dull, dull, and nothing interesting will ever happen to Carter again … until Carter discovers the curious maze.

Nothing has ever happened here in the history of the world, he thinks. But the maze has some strange secrets, and the spot Carter stands upon has seen some very exciting events over the centuries.

Once Carter enters the maze, odd people begin to appear. First he meets Mr. Green, the mysterious, creepy maze-keeper, then a leaf-covered girl, a lost little boy in old-fashioned clothes, a wounded British soldier, and finally an eighteenth-century Native boy who seems very authentic, indeed.

When Carter eventually escapes the curious maze, the fair is all wrong. There are too many horses, ladies in bonnets, and what’s a freak show doing there? Carter begins his travels through time, and his dull afternoon is about to get very, very interesting.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459732513
Publisher:	Dundurn Press
Publication date:	08/06/2016
Series:	Weird Stories Gone Wrong Series , #3
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	136
Lexile:	590L (what's this?)
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Philippa Dowding is an award-winning copywriter, poet, and children’s author. Her books have been nominated for the Diamond Willow, Hackmatack, Silver Birch, and Red Maple awards. Her third book, The Gargoyle at the Gates, was named a White Raven Book by the International Youth Library in Munich. Philippa lives in Toronto.

Philippa Dowding is an award-winning children’s author, a poet, musician and a copywriter. Her many literary nominations include the Silver Birch Express, Red Cedar, and Red Maple awards. She lives in Toronto.

Read an Excerpt

The mummy howled.

Carter yawned.

The skeleton rattled.

Carter sneezed.

The ghost flapped in his face.

Carter rolled his eyes.

He had to face it: the haunted house at the fair just wasn’t scary anymore.

It used to be scary when he was a little kid. Even last year, when he was eleven, it was still a little creepy. But this year?

No chills, no goosebumps, no shrieks, nothing. The only thing Carter noticed was that the pop-up crypt keeper had a broken spring sticking out of his head, and the floating ghost was covered in a thick layer of dust. Plus, there was a bored-looking man standing behind the curtain near the end of the ride, beside a red button that said, “In Case of Emergency, Push to STOP.”

What emergency? Carter thought. Not even a little kid would be scared by this boring ride!

The haunted house ride ended, and Carter climbed out of the rolling car. He pushed past the bored fair worker and shoved his way through the crowd into the bright sunshine. It was weird out in the noisy midway after the dark of the haunted house.

Carter scanned the crowd and found his older sister, Sydney, but frankly, she would have been hard to miss. She was wearing a ridiculous red hat with googly eyes and long, red tentacles.

“What the heck is that thing?” Carter asked as he joined her. It was the weirdest hat he’d ever seen.

“It’s a squid hat,” Sydney answered, pleased. “I won it. Over there.” She pointed at a tent with stripes on it under an old tree. “While you were in the haunted house,” she added.

“Take it off, you look strange,” Carter said. Everything about the fair suddenly seemed strange. His once-favourite haunted house. And now the weirdest hat in the world.

And there were more things that suddenly didn’t seem so fun. For one thing, it was too hot. And for another, it was too loud. He’d never noticed how loud and hot the fair was before. Plus the placed smelled. The air was full of the reek of fried food and garbage.

Yep … that’s garbage, all right.

Carter and Sydney walked out of the noisy, hot midway and bought ice cream cones. They sat on a picnic bench near the lake beside an enormous grey rock.

The water lay perfectly still against the pebbles on the shore. It looked pretty, but the water smelled like goose poop, which Carter had never noticed before. A few sailboats bobbed in the lake, but there was no wind. It was too hot and still, even for the sailboats.

Carter looked up at the huge grey rock beside them. It stood above his head, above his arms, stretched out. It looked very old and was covered with moss and deep scratches near the top. He finished his ice cream and studied the huge rock.

I’m so bored, I’m studying rocks! I have to get out of here!

“Come on, Sydney, let’s go find Mom,” he begged. “I’m dying of boredom! This place is dull. Nothing interesting has ever happened here in the history of the world. Let’s go!”

“It’s not boring, and Mom’s not meeting us at the parking lot for a little while, Carter. What’s wrong with you? There’s still so much to see.” Sydney marched away. Carter sighed and followed her past the tents and midway rides.

Then he stopped.

Someone was watching him. Across the grass beside a tall tree, a stranger waved and beckoned. Carter was too far away to tell if the man – because it looked like a very small man in a long green smock – was definitely waving at him or someone else. Carter slowly raised his hand and cautiously waved back.

The man waved again, more urgently this time.

Carter looked around to see if the person was waving at someone behind him, but no, he was alone. How odd. Who could that be? He didn’t know anyone else at the fair. Carter realized that Sydney was getting farther away; her red hat bounced in the distance.

He ran to catch up with his sister, looking over his shoulder once more … but the stranger in the green smock was gone.

Editorial Reviews

Carter and the Curious Maze is a short, fast-paced tale with engagingly eerie illustrations by Shawna Daigle that enhance Dowding's captivating storytelling style. Readers will be compelled by the historic tales of Toronto's past as experienced by the relatable and funny 12-year-old Carter and the cast of interesting characters he meets within the maze. A perfect book for readers who enjoy light fantasy with humour and heart.

Canadian Materials

…a great novel to introduce multi-genre writing to young readers due to its fantasy, adventure, and mystery overtones.

Resource Links

In an approachable, straightforward style, Dowding writes an engaging time travel story.

Booklist Online

Dowding’s story is fast-paced and compelling, with just enough mystery to be spooky.

YA Books Central

2016-06-01
The lame haunted house at the fair leaves Carter seriously bored until Mr. Green, a scary old man with giant gardening shears, invites him into the Curious Maze; finding a way out—if he can—will prove fantastic, terrifying, and anything but dull.The maze has rules, creepy Mr. Green (leaves grow out of his thumb!) tells him: he can't go back. "Just keep walking. Every maze is a journey. You just have to choose the right path." Hunting for his sister, Carter finds others lost in the maze. A little boy in old-fashioned clothes searches for his mother; a wounded, red-coated soldier is hunted by soldiers in blue with bayonets; desperate Creepy Leaf Girl morphs from human to plant. A "Native boy" in moccasins helps Carter escape the maze, but there's something wrong. Here, the Ferris wheel is made of wood, and a sign reads "Welcome to the Grand Fair, 1903." Carter's invisible, except to the little boy from the maze, still lost. When Mr. Green reappears, the boys follow, only to land in the middle of a war between British and American soldiers. By turns scared, angry, and in denial, likable Carter grounds the well-plotted story. The maze is no tired narrative time-machine device; like Mr. Green, it has a spooky agenda of its own. Otherworldly illustrations, drawn with hallucinatory clarity, complement the text, enhancing the mysteries. With the exception of the Native boy, the primary cast appears to be white. This original take on time-travel historical fantasy is a sure bet for young scary-story enthusiasts. (historical note) (Fantasy. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews