A notorious historical villain overstays his welcome after three Maryland students inadvertently summon him to a dinner party in this engaging fantasy series opener. Every year at Finistere, "a full-on, spires-and-everything medieval castle turned into a school," students must complete the same dinner party assignment: "If you could invite any three people, living or dead, who would you invite?" This year, 12-year-old Javi Santiago, who is Puerto Rican and an aspiring chef, isn't sure whom to include, so he recruits his bookish best friend Will "Wiki" Green to help choose the perfect guests. But when Javi, his younger sister Brady, and Wiki accidentally wield a magic table's summoning powers and let a cartoonishly rendered pirate Blackbeard loose in their world, they must race to send him back before he can enact his evil plans. Confident third grader Brady ("Now find yourself another Pirate Queen, ya scurvy dog!") steals scenes—and Blackbeard's respect. Great for fans of Mr. Lemoncello's Library, debut author Piñeiro's writing offers plenty of humor, as well as clever historical and literary Easter eggs for readers to puzzle out. Includes a character guide. Ages 8-12. Agent: Elana Roth Parker, Laura Dail Literary. (July)

Gr 4-6—Puerto Rican siblings Javi and Brady along with their friend Wiki have discovered a purring table. Well, it does more than purr. Andy, as they nickname him, can bring people from the past for a dinner party. Super cool for a school assignment that asks which three people would you invite from history for a dinner party. Not so cool when one of the guests you invite is Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard the Pirate, and he escapes into your world. Now Javi, Brady, and Wiki aren't sleeping and aren't concentrating at school (by the way, what is up with the ancient castle they go to school in and the teachers who seem a little too much like some people they have read about?) because they are worried they are going to be killed by Blackbeard if they don't use Andy to bring his crew to this world. It appears that all is lost, but when past fabled and famous people join together and combine with stories from Wiki's Haitian family, defeat is impossible. The informal writing style and vocabulary try to capture the narrative voice of tween Javi, but the writing ends up being stilted and sometimes the plot feels awkward, with abrupt ends of events or giving readers déjà vu by repeating certain circumstances. This book combines the many myths of Edward Teach and the glorified stereotype of pirates in an attempt to create an engaging tale, but the humor falls flat. A short appendix includes accurate historical or literary biographies of each of the people encountered in the novel yet the portrayals of a number of them in the actual story contradict the facts given for them. The concept of having historical and literary figures visiting the modern world might strike the funny bone of some readers, but the inconsistent way they are incorporated into the modern world takes some of the fun out. VERDICT Though this has great potential as a story and is a wonderful concept, the execution of the plot and the portrayal of the characters does not recommend it for purchase.—Clare A. Dombrowski, Amesbury P.L., MA