The Floods: Good Neighbors

In their first outing, the eponymous stars of the Floods series, a clan of reptile-eating witches and wizards, make the Addams family seem tame. When they remodel their new house, they bury their “dead and semidead friends and relations” in the backyard and train the growling front gate to keep out unwanted visitors. Their seven kids include a Cousin It–like creature with no arms, four legs and hair on every square inch of her body, including eyeballs and tongue; and blonde, perky Betty, the only offspring who looks ordinary (their mother, Mordonna, longed for a child who would dress dolls up instead of turning them into frogs).Trouble begins with the “neighbors from hell” (“not real hell, where some of the Floods’ best friends lived, but hell on earth, which isn’t actually a real place, more a state of mind”), nasty people who meet their demises quite handily. Betty transforms the son into a fridge, a deceased Flood relative reaches out from her grave to grab and devour the daughter, and so on. Australian author Thompson (The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley ) careens wildly from one extreme scenario to the next, letting the Floods get away with everything—despite their appearances, they’re the good guys. Kids can enjoy the prankishness; adults can rest easy given the conventional underpinnings. Final illustrations not seen by PW . Ages 8-12. (Jan.)