Anyone but Ivy Pocket (Ivy Pocket Series #1)

by Caleb Krisp

Overview

Are you ready for Ivy Pocket? A darkly whimsical and wickedly funny tale of a twelve-year-old maid of no importance who finds herself at the very heart of a conspiracy involving mischief, ghosts, and murder. School Library Journal says, “Fans of . . . Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events will love Ivy Pocket’s zany adventures.” Featuring extensive black-and-white interior art by Barbara Cantini.

Ivy Pocket is a walking disaster, at every turn enraging and appalling the aristocrats she works for. But our protagonist doesn’t see herself that way at all. In fact, she’s convinced that she’s rather wonderful, perfectly charming, and extremely talented. When Ivy finds herself abandoned and penniless in Paris, she has no idea how she will get back to England. Fate intervenes when Ivy is called to the sickbed of a dying duchess and is charged with delivering a spectacular (and possibly cursed) diamond necklace to Matilda Butterfield on her twelfth birthday. From that moment on, Ivy Pocket is propelled towards her remarkable destiny in a surprising adventure full of intrigue, villains, mayhem, and misunderstandings. ALA Booklist calls Anyone but Ivy Pocket “A droll chapter book with a Victorian setting and a one-of-a-kind protagonist.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062364364
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/16/2024
Series:	Ivy Pocket Series , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	966,699
Lexile:	550L (what's this?)
File size:	10 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Caleb Krisp lives in an abandoned cottage deep in the woods. For many years he has devoted himself to writing about a twelve-year-old lady's maid of no importance. His only communication with the outside world is via Morse code or kettledrum.

Editorial Reviews

Krisp’s sharp, fresh dialogue and the action-packed illustrations keep the story light and funny. Fans of . . . Lemony Snicket’s ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ will love Ivy Pocket’s zany adventures.”—School Library Journal — School Library Journal

“[Readers] will enjoy the ride, transported by Ivy’s amusing narration and Cantini’s expressive, stylized drawings . . . A droll chapter book with a Victorian setting and a one-of-a-kind protagonist.” — ALA Booklist

“Ivy is hilarious.” — Kirkus Reviews

“There’s reward here in the period backdrop (Ivy begins in Paris, where her mistress disappears, and then returns to England) and in the Snickety self-awareness . . . A plucky orphan who’s too big for her britches, and . . . ghosts, visions, and other supernatural elements.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

From the Publisher

There’s reward here in the period backdrop (Ivy begins in Paris, where her mistress disappears, and then returns to England) and in the Snickety self-awareness . . . A plucky orphan who’s too big for her britches, and . . . ghosts, visions, and other supernatural elements.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

[Readers] will enjoy the ride, transported by Ivy’s amusing narration and Cantini’s expressive, stylized drawings . . . A droll chapter book with a Victorian setting and a one-of-a-kind protagonist.

ALA Booklist

There’s reward here in the period backdrop (Ivy begins in Paris, where her mistress disappears, and then returns to England) and in the Snickety self-awareness . . . A plucky orphan who’s too big for her britches, and . . . ghosts, visions, and other supernatural elements.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

03/01/2015
Gr 4–6—Twelve-year-old orphan maid Ivy Pocket is the unlikely (and deliberately unlikable) heroine embroiled in this quirky, supernatural mystery. The story begins when she is fired for submerging her employer's head in a bowl of fruit punch to cure her "brain fever." With only a single pound in her pocket, Ivy soon accepts a high-paying mission from a strange duchess—she must travel across the sea to deliver a necklace to a spoiled heiress. The necklace possesses magical powers and is highly sought after, putting Ivy through a series of madcap catastrophes. Her impulsivity and delusional hubris lead her to make one regrettable decision after the next. Ivy is superficial, judgmental, and rude; mature readers who are able to avoid taking her literally will appreciate the humor and Krisp's ironic tone. The Victorian English setting is conspicuously old-fashioned, but Krisp's sharp, fresh dialogue and the action-packed illustrations keep the story light and funny. VERDICT Fans of the irony, mild violence, and conspiracies found in Lemony Snickett's "A Series of Unfortunate Events" (HarperCollins) will love Ivy Pocket's zany adventures.—Anna Murphy, Berkeley Carroll School, Brooklyn, NY

School Library Journal

2015-02-03
If Amelia Bedelia stumbled into a particularly wacky episode of Dr. Who, this book might be the result. Self-deluded and self-important, with a propensity for chaos that boggles the mind, 12-year-old Ivy Pocket is the kind of maid that should be avoided at all costs. Her most recent employment ends when the Countess Carbunkle escapes her too-attentive "help" for South America, stranding the girl in Paris. Almost immediately she is tapped by the dying Duchess of Trinity to deliver the exceedingly rare Clock Diamond to a particular girl on her 12th birthday. Next thing Ivy knows, she's wrapped up in some very mysterious business. What are the visions she's seeing in the diamond? Why is she suddenly able to see ghosts? And perhaps most importantly, who exactly is trying to kill her—and why can't she die? Ivy is a rarity—an unreliable middle-grade narrator—and as such, Ivy is hilarious in and of herself. Yet what starts off as a straightforward cursed-necklace tale gets bogged down in a mythology that seems to want to keep topping itself. Ivy and readers are already knee-deep in ghosts, attempted murders and bratty heirs. Do they really need prophecies and alternate worlds on top of that? Ivy's charming ego carries the book far, just barely making up for any superfluous extras. (Fantasy. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews