the incorrigible children of ashton place, book 1: the mysterious howling by maryrose wood

3/1/10

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling | Maryrose Wood

HarperCollins

Hardcover/288pp.

Found running wild in the forest of Ashton Place, the Incorrigibles are no ordinary children: Alexander, age ten or thereabouts, keeps his siblings in line with gentle nips; Cassiopeia, perhaps four or five, has a bark that is (usually) worse than her bite; and Beowulf, age somewhere-in-the-middle, is alarmingly adept at chasing squirrels.
Luckily, Miss Penelope Lumley is no ordinary governess. Only fifteen years old and a recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, Penelope embraces the challenge of her new position. Though she is eager to instruct the children in Latin verbs and the proper use of globes, first she must help them overcome their canine tendencies.
But mysteries abound at Ashton Place: Who are these three wild creatures, and how did they come to live in the vast forests of the estate? Why does Old Timothy, the coachman, lurk around every corner? Will Penelope be able to teach the Incorrigibles table manners and socially useful phrases in time for Lady Constance's holiday ball? And what on earth is a schottische?

Brent’s opinion of the novel:
I think I said this a while ago, but I’ll repeat: one of my favorite MG-subgenres is historical. There’s nothing better than wacky characters in a lush historical setting! It reminds me that while a lot of things have changed (society, technology, etc.) the big things like childhood, human nature, and everything else has not.

The cover looked cute, the story sounded great, my Nook Color was sitting on my shelf, empty of a fresh new story, and I just had to download it. And I’m so glad that I did!

THE MYSTERIOUS HOWLING starts off with Miss Penelope Lumley, our lovely protagonist that we must first get acquainted with as Miss Penelope Lumley and then later simply Penelope, trekking her way through the European countryside. You see, Penelope Lumley—I mean, Miss Penelope Lumley, as you are not yet acquainted with her—has just graduated the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females and is now in search of a possible job. What job? Well, what else might a Poor Bright Female be than a governess to three wolf children?

When Miss Penelope Lumley arrives to Ashton Place, she is shocked to see that three children she is to take care of aren’t even human children. Or maybe they are. Or maybe they aren’t. All she knows is, they have a ferocious growl and the gait of an ill-groomed dog.

I seriously ADORE this book! Usually when I love a middle grade so much I call it “cute,” but that word doesn’t fit. The words “lovely” and “lavish” and “fun” fit. The moments when Miss Lumley Penelope is attempting to train the children, and there are many (oh yes, they so need all the training they can get), were my favorite. Their interactions are laugh-out-loud funny.

Here’s my inner-publishing intern coming out: The protagonist of THE MYSTERIOUS HOWLING is 15-years-old, yet this book is nowhere near a YA. It never reads as anything but MG, and I’m in awe of Maryrose Wood’s talent for keeping the MG voice with YA-aged characters. In the slushpile, I see a lot of these situations that just don’t work (the protagonist has a YA voice when the story is supposed to be MG, and vice versa). This is a perfect example of how to master the middle grade voice with hard-to-tackle characters.

Really, just go out and get your hands on this book! Maryrose Wood is a marvelous story-teller.