Ellen Potter

It's clever, funny, dark, and touching. It's Lemony Snicket and Roald Dahl and dare I say a touch of the ol' J.K. And it's over too soon! The Kneebone Boy straight charmed the crap out of me. I wanted it to be longer, or at least be the start of a series, but I believe it's just an awesome little standalone gem I'll have to reread soon and often.

This is the story of the three Hardscrabble siblings: Otto, Lucia, and Max. These kids are outcasts in their hometown of Little Tunks because their mother disappeared and the whole town suspects Otto killed her and their father buried her in the backyard. But no one really knows what happened to the mother. She may be dead. She may have been kidnapped. It's been long years since anyone's seen her and the Hardscrabbles have precious few memories of her.

Then one day their father has to go on one of his portrait-painting trips and leaves the kids with their cousin in London. Only it turns out their cousin isn't in London and they are stranded. Unable to reach their father, they decide to seek out their mysterious Great-Aunt Haddie in a town called Snoring-by-the-Sea. I will not give away any more plot, which is quite twisty, but I will go on a little about why I loved this so much.

First and foremost, the narration is outstanding. We're told in the beginning that one of the Hardscrabble siblings is writing the story, but can't say who it is: "They said it's because the story belongs to all three of us, and I suppose they're right, but it seems unfair since I'm doing all the work. No one can stop you from guessing though." It's pretty easy to guess who the narrator is, but it's also really fun that the story is told in both third and first person. It has great flow, but can be broken up by asides about the writing of the story itself (very [b:Series of Unfortunate Events|78411|The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #1)|Lemony Snicket|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170942131s/78411.jpg|1069597]--if you didn't like those books, you probably won't like this). The asides are very funny and very meta. If I were more industrious I'd quote a long passage from page 87 that illustrates how great they are, but I'm not feeling industrious, so you're just going to have to read the book.

The relationship between the siblings is another of this book's strong suits. To me, it was so real. Each of the siblings' personalities seemed molded by their siblings. Otto doesn't speak, but communicates with a secret sign language he developed with Lucia. Max is just ten years old, but hyper-intelligent, so the very proud Lucia is often upstaged by him, which just makes her act even more haughty. They fight childishly. They bond touchingly. It's a dynamic that's familiar to most people, but not often captured so well in an adventure like this book.

One last compliment for Ms. Potter: I believe you are American, so bully for you for writing in so many cheeky Britishisms. I mean, I'm American too, so I can't truly say that you got them all right. But it sounded super awesomely British to me. The audio book could be great.

In the end, this book is about what all good adventure books are about: danger and discovery. And, as the narrator says, "Here is my most important message to you: All great adventures have moments that are really crap." Or, in a more philosophical vein: "You have to work really hard at being astonished by life."

One last thing: the cover art is perfect. Do you see how the cat has extra toes?

… (altro)

I didn't enjoy this very much because one of the main plot points was completely unbelievable, while the rest of it was realistic. Basically, it's about a 12-year-old overweight boy who has to deal with bullies every day at school. At the same time, he's working on an invention to deal with a separate sadness in his life.

The are several interesting plot twists in the story, but they all came fast in the end. Potter's style is to introduce intriguing details and then wait a few chapters to explain them. For example, I was interested in the main character's sister, named Jeremy. Potter later reveals that her real name is Caitlin, but she changed it when she joined a group at school called GWAB, which we learn later stands for Girls Who Are Boys.

So this book's main selling point is that nothing in the story is what it seems. Even the title, which seems to be about Owen's weight problem, is really about something completely different.… (altro)

THIS is the book I thought I was getting when I picked up the other Olivia Kidney book. It's shorter and much better written. I was able to understand much more clearly what the author was trying to get at. I liked the illustrations. Character introductions and interactions were sufficiently well-done. The book's title content doesn't show up until the seventy percent mark in the ebook I read, and trreats its subject matter incredibly lightly and pure twee. It's sugar spun candy in terms of vocabulary, description and content. I expected that, though, as this is for children who are not yet in middle school. I mean, Olivia and her friends are in their tweens but the writing level is much younger than that. This book could have been far darker with totally different character motives and plot and setting, but with the same "kids learn to die in their dreams." The possibility of that is what got me interested in the first place. The book, though, never pretends to be anything than what it is. When I finished it, I felt content and okay, unlike when I finally finished the freaking other book I read in the series. The interesting book I was waiting for had still not come in. Sigh.… (altro)