The Interrupted Tale (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place Series #4)

by Maryrose Wood, Eliza Wheeler (Illustrator)

Overview

For fans of Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events and Trenton Lee Stewart’s Mysterious Benedict Society comes the fourth book in the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, the acclaimed and hilarious Victorian mystery series by Maryrose Wood.

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061791222
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/17/2013
Series:	Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place , #4
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	503,909
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.40(d)
Lexile:	900L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Maryrose Wood is the author of the first five books (so far!) in this series about the Incorrigible children and their governess. These books may be considered works of fiction, which is to say, the true bits and the untrue bits are so thoroughly mixed together that no one should be able to tell the difference. This process of fabrication is fully permitted under the terms of the author's Poetic License, which is one of her most prized possessions.

Maryrose's other qualifications for writing these tales include a scandalous stint as a professional thespian, many years as a private governess to two curious and occasionally rambunctious pupils, and whatever literary insights she may have gleaned from living in close proximity to a clever but disobedient dog.

Eliza Wheeler has illustrated numerous books for children and is the illustrator-author of the New York Times bestseller Miss Maple’s Seeds. The telling of her own grandmother’s childhood story in her picture book Home in the Woods ignited a passion for the process of capturing family stories and doing historical visual research, and she was honored to be invited to help Jacob capture his mother’s childhood story through pictures for What Rosa Brought. Eliza lives with her husband near the lakes of Minneapolis, Minnesota. You can find her online at wheelerstudio.com.

Editorial Reviews

02/01/2014
Gr 4–6—In Wood's continuing comic-gothic series, nanny Penelope Lumley is called back to the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females to deliver a speech at the Celebrate Alumnae Knowledge Exposition, and she takes her three wolfish charges along. They find things much changed from Penelope's pleasant descriptions of the institution that was so instrumental in forming her character and philosophy. The Board of Directors has experienced something along the lines of a hostile takeover. Any enjoyment of life on the part of the poor, bright females is being squelched. It doesn't take long for Penelope to suspect that Judge Quinzy, who now heads the Board, is actually the supposedly deceased father of Lord Ashton and that he is after a book that may hold clues about the mysterious curse of the Ashtons. Readers learn that the three incorrigible children are not the only wolfish humans in the series and also a fair amount about poetic feet-especially iambic pentameter. It is all great fun and delightfully complicated-an essential purchase for libraries owning the previous three titles.—Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Library, NY

School Library Journal

2013-10-01
Amid much mention of cake and iambic pentameter, the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females survives a challenge thanks to its star graduate, nanny Penelope Lumley, and her three wolfish wards. Invited on her 16th birthday to deliver an address to her school's residents and sundry others at a Celebrate Alumnae Knowledge Exposition, Miss Lumley travels to her alma mater with young Alexander, Beowulf and Cassiopeia Incorrigible. There, she discovers that malign "Judge Quinzy," disguised and purportedly dead father of her employer, Lord Frederick Ashton, has taken over the board of trustees and instituted a repressive regime that includes changing the school's very name to the Quinzy School for Miserable Girls. Why? It seems he's after a certain old diary that holds clues as to why the Ashton men have been howling at the full moon for generations. As in previous episodes, Wood threads a boisterous gaslamp melodrama with instructional references (here to poetic meters) and broad but inscrutable clues. These seem to link the Ashtons, the Incorrigibles and Miss Lumley herself in some still-mysterious way. As always, details thrill: The school vet, Dr. Westminster, is first met successfully teaching chickens to dance the hokeypokey. The history and nature of the Ashton curse at least begins to move out of the shadows at last. Still, much else remains to be illuminated in future sequels, which fans will be howling for. (finished illustrations not seen) (Comic melodrama. 10-12)

Kirkus Reviews

Happily, the mysteries deepen at Ashton Place in this fourth volume in the Incorrigible Children series. Once again delightful wordplay and a plot that snakes itself around a suspicious family tree add to the deliciousness.” — Booklist (starred review), about The Interrupted Tale (Book 4)

From the Publisher

Happily, the mysteries deepen at Ashton Place in this fourth volume in the Incorrigible Children series. Once again delightful wordplay and a plot that snakes itself around a suspicious family tree add to the deliciousness.

Booklist (starred review)