The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place

Title: The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, The Mysterious Howling

Author: Maryrose Wood, illustrated by Jon Klassen

Published: 2010

Pages: 267

I've just had dumb luck with picking out some great books off the library shelves recently.  Klassen did a great job with the cover and the inside illustrations, and it just really drew me in.  This was a great read!  

Miss Penelope Lumley, a fifteen year old young lady and recent graduate of Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, accepts the position of governess for three young children at Ashton Place.  What she soon finds out is that these three incorrigibles were found living wild in the forrest, and cannot even speak.  

Poor Miss Lumley, later to be called Lumawoo by the children, really has her work cut out for her.  She not only has to teach them how to speak, read, and study their lessons, but she has to first teach them how to put on their own clothes and not chase small wild animals.  Then to really top things off, they are expected to attend a Christmas ball and to perform the Schottische!

If you are like me and completely fall in love with these three incorrigibles Alexander, Beowulf, and Cassiopeia, you will also be delighted to learn that the adventure continues in the next book in the series titled The Hidden Gallery...  

Title: The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, The Hidden Gallery

Author: Maryrose Wood, illustrated by Jon Klassen

Published: 2011

Pages: 313

After a very interesting end to the Christmas ball, Miss Lumley and the three incorrigibles take a trip to London.  Although howling at the moon takes place less often now, a trip to a large metropolitan city like London still turns out to be quite the challenge for Alexander, Beowulf, and Cassiopeia. 

Throw in a thief who tries to steal thier tour guide book, a gypsy with a stern warning, and a somewhat inpatient Buckingham Palace guard into the mix, and you are really in for an adventure!

"To know where you are going is always a great comfort to travelers, which is one reason that skilled navigators were as highly prized in Miss Penelope Lumley's day as those clever, robot-voiced, direction-giving gadgets are today."

Even through all these trials and adventures, Miss Lumley still holds fast the the good and proper upbringing she received at the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females...

"But if there was one thing Penelope had learned from her headmistress, it was that worry, self-pity, and complaint were not how a Swanburne girl got through the day."

Full of good advice, lots of misadventures, and great tid-bits of trivial knowledge, these books make for a great summer time read!