The Boy Who Frightened Miss Muffet

Of all the transformation possibilities, he had to become a monstrous spider.

Frederick, one of the lost children of Fairendale, is folded up inside a sack of sorts, thanks to a Vanishing spell that transported him to an underground cave near Lincastle. Upon hatching, he learns that he is a massive, monstrous spider in a whole colony of them. The spiders have rules and rituals, and Frederick wants nothing to do with them. He stands out lamentably; he is, after all, human under his spider skin.

A friend within the colony (if a giant spider can be called a friend, that is) warns Frederick that those spiders who are different, who do not blend in, do not last long in the group. He must conform or die. But when Frederick sneaks away from the sleeping spiders and discovers an evil plot brewing in Lincastle, he must decide: conform and let evil run its course, or rebel and risk his life for a noble rescue attempt?

The Boy Who Frightened Miss Muffet is the fifteenth book in the Fairendale series, an epic fantasy middle grade series that explores both familiar and unfamiliar fairy tales, legends, myths, and folk tales. The world of Fairendale revolves around villains and heroes--all on a quest for what they believe is right. Throughout the series, the story of King Willis and his determination to keep the throne of Fairendale (at all costs? Perhaps. Or perhaps not.) is woven into the story of his son, Prince Virgil, heir to the throne and friend to the village children, and the story of fairy tale children fleeing for their lives--children who become what we know as fairy tale villains, for one good reason or another.

But, remember, one cannot always know, at first glance, who is the villain and who is the hero.