#mrl3

The first book in the Ottoline Series, Ottoline and the Yellow Cat, is now available in paperback. Full of superb illustrations and details, this is a great book for an emerging reader. All the books by the team of Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell that I have ever encountered have knocked my socks off. The combination of creative creatures, wild circumstances and great adventures in their Far-Flung Adventures is pitch perfect for the younger crowd, where are their series for older readers, The Edge Chronicles, adds suspense, life threatening danger and occasional violence and even death. Sort of Tolkein for the pre-teen... Their newest series, Barnaby Grimes is set in a Victorian London. Barnaby, who has a nose for intrigue, is a tick tock lad who jumps from rooftop to rooftop in the poorer, crowded part of the city in which he lives and works. The Ottoline series represents Ridell's first chapter book on his own, and, as to be expected, it is spectacular.

Ottoline and the Yellow Cat is a treasure chest of visual details, oddities, maps and diagrams included, with touches of red highlighting the intricate illustrations (Ottoline Goes to School is accented with blue. No word on what color will brighten Ottoline at Sea, book three). The cast of characters include wonderfully strange creatures, villains, absent parents and disguises. Ottoline lives in in the Pepperpot Building, number 243 with her parents, Professor and Mrs. Brown, who are collectors and world travelers and have amassed such wonders as a four-spouted tea pot collection and a shelf-full of emperor's hats, to name a few. Ottoline herself is a collector (of odd shoes and postcards, all of which are sent to her by her traveling parents) and a graduate of the Academy of Subterfuge. 

 Mr Munroe, who resembles Cousin Itt from the Addams Family, but with bare-human like feet showing from beneath his hair, cares for Ottoline when her parents are traveling. More than anything, Mr Munroe hates to get wet, take baths and have his hair brushed. However, Ottoline loves to brush his hair when she is in a thinking or planning mood, which happens often because she is a bit of a mystery hound, and Mr Munroe submits to her whim. The relationship between Ottoline and Mr Munroe is very well developed and touching. My favorite part of the book is when, separately and on separate occasions, both Ottoline and Mr Munroe find themselves eavesdropping, but confess that they keep this pastime a secret because they each believe the other would disapprove. Ottoline and the Yellow Cat finds the duo investigating the disappearance of lap dogs and diamonds. After finding a trail of clues, Mr Munroe bravely volunteers to go undercover to crack the case and trap the cat burglar. The climax involves a very funny scene which depends largely on the services of the many businesses employed by the Brown's to keep Ottoline's life running smoothly in their absence. This housekeeping staff includes Marion's Bathroom Supplies, the Smiling Dragon Clothes Folding Co., the Happy Nest Bed Makers and the Home Cooked Meal Company.

Clara Gillow Clark's third book about Hattie Belle Basket, The Secrets of Greymoor, finds our heroine knee deep in another mystery, one that might save Grandmother from losing her mansion, Greymoor. When we first met her in Hill Hawk Hattie, she is living in a small cabin in the mountains with her father and her mother has just died. When Pa tells Hattie she is going to dress as a boy and help him with his logging work, she is too despondent to argue. That's how she finds herself passing as "Harley," the only girl ever to raft down the Delaware River in 1883, even if it is in secret. In her next book, Hattie on Her Way, Hattie finds herself up against snobby neighbors and rumors about the death of her mysteriously absent Grandfather. In Secrets of Greymoor, Hattie now knows that her Grandfather, who has just passed away, was in the Utica Insane Asylum for the last years of his life, but she does not know what he did with Grandmother's fortune...

As Grandmother's income dwindles, Horace Bottle, Hattie's tutor who also boards with them, much search for a teaching job elsewhere and Hattie is forced to go to common school, or what we now call public school. Still clinging to her upper class ideals, Grandmother notes that, "Only commoners go to common school. We are not common people." Despite this, Hattie is anxious to be among children her own age again, especially now that she has ostracized her snooty neighbor, Ivy Victoria. However, Hattie finds herself an outsider once again as the girls in the school assume that she is an upper class snob because she lives in a mansion on the hill and they want to know what she is doing at common school. Hattie manages to win some of them over with her tales of elaborate feasts and festivities that never really happen and promises to invite them to her next party when her Grandmother is out of mourning for her Grandfather. Not all the girls buy her story and this proves disastrous in the end. Another impeding disaster is the overdue tax collection notice that Hattie hides from Grandmother. The need to find money to pay the taxes and a cypher filled notebook that she finds hidden in her Grandfather's old overcoat send Hattie on a hunt for hidden treasure inside the walls of Greymoor. And, while she finds the treasure, she can't save Greymoor and an auction ensues. But not before Hattie and Ivy Victoria tentatively renew their friendship which leads to a helping hand from a surprising person. The end of the book finds Hattie writing a letter to her Pa, who, after taking reading and writing lessons from the school mistress falls in love with and marries her, asking for new overalls so she can take up where she left off when she boarded that raft heading down river. Now that Grandmother and Buzzard Rose are safe and settled and money is no longer a problem and Hattie has passed her entrance exam into the Academy where Horace is now a teacher, she can make good on her promise to return to the mountains for the summer, meet her new family and take up with her old best friend, Jasper.

Hugo Pepeper is the third and possibly final book in the Far-Flung Adventures series written by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. And, although the books do not have to be read in any order, there are reoccurring people and places in all of them. As to be expected, these books are packed with interesting characters with quirky traits and impeccable illustrations to go with them!

This book begins with Harvi and Sarvi Runter-Tun-Tun, reindeer herders and cheesemakers extraordinaire of the great Frozen North and their discovery of a baby on their doorstep one night. When this orphan, Hugo, discovers the wreckage of the aeronautical snow chariot at age ten and a half, he realizes that he has a past that he yearns to know about. Harvi and Sarvi realize this as well and help him to find his way home. When Hugo reaches Harbor Heights, he finds a town both wonderous and wretched. The inhabitants of Firefly square sell the most amazing things, but they are stuck in the evil grip of Elliot de Mille, the new head of the Institute of Travelers' Tales and the secrets he publishes in the Firefly Quarterly.

Rich with story-collectors, mermaids, snow giants, tea blenders, flying carpet slippers and far more amazing people, places, foods and the usual array of fantastic hats than I can describe here, it makes me a little bit sad to think that this may be the last Far-Flung Adventure. Fortunately, Chris Riddell is striking out on his own with what might become a series about Ottoline, a little girl who is often on her own while her parents travel the world collecting interesting things... Along with her companion, Mr Monroe from Norway (a definite relative of Cousin Itt) Ottoline solves the mystery of the cat burglar. Shorter and at a slightly lower RL than the Far-Flung Adventures, this could be a great addition to the world of children's literature!

Fergus Crane is the first in the Far-Flung Adventures series written by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. Although the books do not have to be read in order there are reoccurring people and places in all three stories.

Fergus Crane lives with his mother who struggles to make ends meet while working as at Boris Biederbecker's bakery that is conveniently located right next to in the Archduke Ferdinand Apartments where the Cranes live. Nine-year-old Fergus has just begun to attend school aboard the Betty Jean, which, although the teachers seem suspiciously like pirates, offers free schooling. One night, a mysterious mechanical flying box delivers a message to Fergus and his adventure begins. Talking penguins, flying mechanical horses, delicious but rare nuts, beautiful but rare diamonds, a long-lost uncle and a rescue at sea ensue.

As with all of Paul Stewart's books, he is a master of names, which are almost as descriptive as Chris Riddell's brilliant illustrations. The cast of quirky characters and the imaginative settings, along with some wonderously impossible inventions make for a great read. The all- illustrations epilogue wraps up the story in a very satisfying way.

Corby Flood is the second in the Far-Flung Adventrues series by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell, and, although the books do not have to be read in order there are reoccurring people and places in all three adventures. Corby's story takes place aboard the S.S. Euphonia, upon which the Flood family is traveling from Dandoon to their hometown of Harbor Heights, which Corby has never seen. Having experienced a great disaster while building the Tamberlaine-Marx Crossing for the Begum of Dandoon, Corby's father, a renowned bridge builder and brilliant engineer, has retired to his berth in defeat and will not leave his cabin. While at sea with her Hoffendink's Guide that describes interesting places along the coast of Dalcretia that the cruise line no longer visits, Corby stumbles across more than a few mysteries, the most urgent of which concerns a creature inside of a wooden crate that sings the saddest song. The villains in this tale are a group of green bowler wearing members of the Brotherhood of Clowns, all of who have have surnames that are also the names of familiar fonts... As with the other books in this series, Fergus Crane and Hugo Pepper, this adventure is packed with details - more than I can fit into this review. Paul Stewart provides Chris Riddell with a wonderful world to illustrate, and the lucky reader gets to see those fabulous pictures on almost every page. This book would be a great read out loud, but it is almost better to let your children read it alone and savor every word and picture as they go.

Hugo Pepeper is the third and possibly final book in the Far-Flung Adventures series written by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. And, although the books do not have to be read in any order, there are reoccurring people and places in all of them. As to be expected, these books are packed with interesting characters with quirky traits and impeccable illustrations to go with them!

This book begins with Harvi and Sarvi Runter-Tun-Tun, reindeer herders and cheesemakers extraordinaire of the great Frozen North and their discovery of a baby on their doorstep one night. When this orphan, Hugo, discovers the wreckage of the aeronautical snow chariot at age ten and a half, he realizes that he has a past that he yearns to know about. Harvi and Sarvi realize this as well and help him to find his way home. When Hugo reaches Harbor Heights, he finds a town both wonderous and wretched. The inhabitants of Firefly square sell the most amazing things, but they are stuck in the evil grip of Elliot de Mille, the new head of the Institute of Travelers' Tales and the secrets he publishes in the Firefly Quarterly.

Rich with story-collectors, mermaids, snow giants, tea blenders, flying carpet slippers and far more amazing people, places, foods and the usual array of fantastic hats than I can describe here, it makes me a little bit sad to think that this may be the last Far-Flung Adventure. Fortunately, Chris Riddell is striking out on his own with what might become a series about Ottoline, a little girl who is often on her own while her parents travel the world collecting interesting things... Along with her companion, Mr Monroe from Norway (a definite relative of Cousin Itt) Ottoline solves the mystery of the cat burglar. Shorter and at a slightly lower RL than the Far-Flung Adventures, this could be a great addition to the world of children's literature!

Fergus Crane is the first in the Far-Flung Adventures series written by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. Although the books do not have to be read in order there are reoccurring people and places in all three stories.

Fergus Crane lives with his mother who struggles to make ends meet while working as at Boris Biederbecker's bakery that is conveniently located right next to in the Archduke Ferdinand Apartments where the Cranes live. Nine-year-old Fergus has just begun to attend school aboard the Betty Jean, which, although the teachers seem suspiciously like pirates, offers free schooling. One night, a mysterious mechanical flying box delivers a message to Fergus and his adventure begins. Talking penguins, flying mechanical horses, delicious but rare nuts, beautiful but rare diamonds, a long-lost uncle and a rescue at sea ensue.

As with all of Paul Stewart's books, he is a master of names, which are almost as descriptive as Chris Riddell's brilliant illustrations. The cast of quirky characters and the imaginative settings, along with some wonderously impossible inventions make for a great read. The all- illustrations epilogue wraps up the story in a very satisfying way.

Corby Flood is the second in the Far-Flung Adventrues series by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell, and, although the books do not have to be read in order there are reoccurring people and places in all three adventures. Corby's story takes place aboard the S.S. Euphonia, upon which the Flood family is traveling from Dandoon to their hometown of Harbor Heights, which Corby has never seen. Having experienced a great disaster while building the Tamberlaine-Marx Crossing for the Begum of Dandoon, Corby's father, a renowned bridge builder and brilliant engineer, has retired to his berth in defeat and will not leave his cabin. While at sea with her Hoffendink's Guide that describes interesting places along the coast of Dalcretia that the cruise line no longer visits, Corby stumbles across more than a few mysteries, the most urgent of which concerns a creature inside of a wooden crate that sings the saddest song. The villains in this tale are a group of green bowler wearing members of the Brotherhood of Clowns, all of who have have surnames that are also the names of familiar fonts... As with the other books in this series, Fergus Crane and Hugo Pepper, this adventure is packed with details - more than I can fit into this review. Paul Stewart provides Chris Riddell with a wonderful world to illustrate, and the lucky reader gets to see those fabulous pictures on almost every page. This book would be a great read out loud, but it is almost better to let your children read it alone and savor every word and picture as they go.