MMGM: The Interrupted Tale (Incorrigle Children of Ashton Place)

There are some series that I  have waited for with bated breath: THE PENDERWICKS,  THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY, LEMONY SNICKET.

My latest series obsession: THE INCORRIBLE CHILDREN OF ASHTON PLACE. I recently got my hands on the fourth in the series: The Interrupted Tale.

If you have not had a taste of this marvelous series, it is about the delightful Miss Lumley, governess to three children who’ve been raised by wolves. But it’s so much more than that.

Here is the synopsis from Amazon:

In The Interrupted Tale, Miss Penelope Lumley receives an invitation to speak at the annual Celebrate Alumnae Knowledge Exposition (or CAKE) at the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females. Optoomuchstic as ever, Penelope hopes to give her CAKE talk, see some old friends, and show off the Incorrigible children to Miss Mortimer, but instead she finds her beloved school in an uproar.

And when Penelope is asked by the Swanburne Academy board of trustees to demonstrate the academic progress of her three wolfish students so the board can judge the true worth of a Swanburne education, the future of her alma mater—and of her job as governess to the Incorrigibles—hangs in the balance.

Some of my favorite things about this book (and the series):

-Lots of wordplay and literary allusions (everything from Greek orators to Eureka! to Shakespeare). In Interrupted Tale, the word cake is used to great effect.

-An omniscient narrator like Lemony Snicket or Cuthbert Soup (A WHOLE NOTHER STORY) whose hilarious asides are just as much fun as the actual story. In Interrupted Tale, everything from ferns to filibusters to dancing chickens and the Imperial Ballet are discussed.

-A plucky heroine, who loves to read the Giddyup Rainbow series and teaches her charges about Edgar Allen Poe--what's not to love?

-Incredibly entertaining villains

-The solution of each mystery only leads to another--and each riddle is connected. (I just haven't figured out how yet!)

-If you loved Jane Eyre or Lemony Snicket or The Mysterious Benedict Society, you will love this book.

For writers: One of the things I find most amazing about THE INCORRIBLE CHILDREN, is that the protagonist is 15 going on 16. (She turns 16 in Interrupted Tale.) Yet the story is accessible to middle grade readers. I think it’s the writing style and how the story is told. The mild bit of romance is also not like you’d find in YA, more of a friendship that’s blossoming into more.

I just learned there’s only one more book coming out. I will be very sad when this series ends.

Two other MMGMers blogged about the first in the series recently: Suzanne Warr and Joanne Fritz.

What amazing middle grades have you read lately?

To check out more Marvelous Middle Grade suggestions, check out Shannon Messenger's blog.