#1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Nielsen's debut novel, now with fresh new cover art for a new generation of readers! A brilliant, hilarious, and unique fantasy adventure about a boy who has to save mythical creatures from their Goblin tormentors - and who learns how to stand up to bullies of the human variety. It all starts on Halloween night, when young Elliot Penster chases off some bullies who areattacking a girl in a brownie costume. A very realistic brownie costume. Okay, not a costume at all. Little does Elliot know by his eleventh birthday he will be named the King of the Brownies, will be responsible for provoking a war with the goblins, and - perhaps most terrifying of all - will become personally acquainted with the infamous Chocolate Cake of Horror. But as it turns out, Elliot is too busy to do much ruling: it's taking all his energy to dodge the many nasty goblin attempts to doaway with him, not to mention an all-too-human bully at school. But when the goblins finally go too far and blow up his house, Elliot realizes that it's time to stop dodging and stand up and fight back. After all, what else can a king do?.