Trouble with Tattle-Tails (The Fables Stables Book #2)

Book 2 in The Fabled Stables series from New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Auxier introduces a new one-of-a-kind creature: the Tattle-Tail!

Auggie and his magical companions are tending to the Fabled Stables when the building shakes and shudders to make room for a new arrival: the Tattle-Tail. Auggie and friends travel through the portal to a town called Rainbow’s End in search of this mysterious creature. Auggie assumes that the Tattle-Tail is in danger, but he learns that it’s actually the town that needs rescuing . . . from an infestation of Tattle-Tails!
These talking tails have taken over, attaching themselves to every backside in town (including Auggie’s!). The Tails tattle on whomever they’re attached to: She picked her nose! He just double-dipped! The constant stress of being tattled on has thrown all of Rainbow’s End into chaos!
Soon, Auggie and friends hatch a plan to collect the Tattle-Tails and bring them safely to the Stables–foiling a pair of evil bank robbers along the way.

Editorial Reviews

*2021-03-31
In the second Fabled Stables book, Auggie must rescue a one-of-a-kind creature–then rescue a town from it.

Auggie loves caring for the creatures of the Fabled Stables, doing everything he can to make them happy. However, he struggles to figure out the best way to do that for the Unfeeling Brute, as she’s a big, caterpillarlike creature lacking a mouth, eyes, and other features. As he ponders his problem, suddenly the stables magically expand, indicating a new tenant needs to be rescued: It’s the Tattle-Tail. Auggie and his best friends, Willa the Wisp and Fen, a Stick-in-the-Mud, head off to Rainbow’s End and find two crises afoot. First, someone’s stolen the village’s magical pot of gold; more pressingly, everyone in town sports colorful, fluffy, sentient tails that have recently attached themselves to the populace and are ratting out all of their embarrassing secrets and misdeeds. The tattling is so silly and the tails illustrated so joyfully that they’ll delight readers, especially when Auggie’s attempts to free the town backfire in funny ways. Another running joke concerns beeswax stuck in Fen’s ears, causing him to comically mishear other characters. In between misunderstandings, Fen solves the robbery–unmasking the thieves as foes faced in the series opener–and inspires Auggie’s solution to the Tattle-Tail problem, which leads to a happy ending for the Brute as well. Auggie’s depicted as beige; Rainbow’s End has background diversity.

Funny, charming, and bighearted. (Fantasy. 5-9)
– Kirkus Reviews

„Bright cartoon art and speech-bubble dialogue help add character and detail to the story. The silly imaginary creatures combined with a gentle plot works well for early chapter book readers as well as for those eager to listen to longer stories read aloud. The solution to the Tattle-Tail dilemma, and the problems it caused, offers a number of points for engaging discussion.“
– The Horn Book Magazine

**STARRED REVIEW**
„The tattling is so silly and the tails illustrated so joyfully that they’ll delight readers, especially when Auggie’s attempts to free the town backfire in funny ways… Funny, charming, and bighearted.“-Kirkus Reviews

„Bright cartoon art and speech-bubble dialogue help add character and detail to the story. The silly imaginary creatures combined with a gentle plot works well for early chapter book readers as well as for those eager to listen to longer stories read aloud. The solution to the Tattle-Tail dilemma, and the problems it caused, offers a number of points for engaging discussion.“-The Horn Book Magazine
– From the Publisher