With a pimply face and braces on his teeth, the perpetually clumsy Brendan is having a hard time at school. When he starts hearing voices and conversing with chipmunks, he thinks he can add losing his mind to his growing list of problems. Then he discovers that he’s a Faerie who was lost in the human world. Now that he knows his true identity, the human disguise that has been protecting him begins to fade and a whole host of wicked creatures tries to tempt him to use his Faerie power for evil intentions. It’s up to Brendan to protect the human world, and to make the ultimate choice between the family he has grown up with and his new Faerie roots.

Comedian Seán Cullen’s many stage and screen credits include the CBC’s Seán Cullen Show and Seán Cullen’s Home for Christmas Special, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the Showcase series Slings and Arrows, and the Toronto stage production of The Producers. He is the winner of three Gemini awards. Seán is also a member of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival Acting Company.

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The Prince of Neither Here Nor There (Chronicles of the Misplaced Prince)

In the first book of the new Chronicles of the Misplaced Prince series, Brendan, a slightly geeky and awkward 14-year-old, discovers that he is really a Faerie who was lost in the human world. Now he must come to grips with the fact that his family isn’t really his family at all, and find a way to survive in the face of otherworldly villains who are determined to destroy him before he can fully understand the scope of his lineage.

Seán Cullen’s latest novel for kids is funny, outlandish and at times ridiculous, but kids will enjoy this unusual story. Telling the story is a comical narrator, who begins the narrative with a short introduction that will make readers laugh out loud. Footnotes are interspersed throughout the story, defining words and expanding on story points, but they are tongue-in-cheek, and shouldn’t be taken too seriously. The use of footnotes may seem disruptive and distracting to weaker readers, but kids who have enjoyed works such as the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud will appreciate this unusual technique.

The plot is full of humour and adventure, and despite his unusual background, Brendan is a likeable character, and easy to identify with. Like most adolescents, he is in full-blown ugly duckling mode – he fights with his sister, and deals with the usual problems that come with the first year of high school. The novel is also chock-full of other fantastical creatures, all of whom test his ingenuity, courage and integrity. Particularly entertaining is the Lesser- Faerie sugar-junkie sidekick, who is either in a sugar-induced state of hyperactivity, or crashing hard.

Cullen also successfully imparts some gentle lessons about friendship and trust. Brendan discovers that he doesn’t have to fight his battles alone, and that sometimes you just have to trust your friends to be there when you need them. The novel’s length – 392 pages – should not deter readers. Those who pick it up will be rewarded for the effort.

The Prince of Neither Here Nor There (Chronicles of the Misplaced Prince)

Brendan learns he is a Faerie who was lost in the human world. The human family he grew up in isn’t his real one. Will he be forced to turn his back on his human parents and embrace his Faerie roots? How can he survive in the face of powers determined to destroy him before he can grasp the scope of his newfound birthright?