Goth Girl and the Fete Worse Than Death by Chris Riddell (Pan Macmillan; R185)
W elcome to the wacky, weird and wonderful world of of Ada Goth. Ada is the only daughter of Lord Goth, an English poet, and she lives in Ghastly Gorm Hall. Lucy Borgia, her governess is a 300-year-old vampire. Ada is anything but an average little girl.
Ada has been taught by six governesses but Lucy – the seventh – is by far her favourite and is also an expert umbrella fencer.
Enter a mysterious and fashionable gentleman, Lord Sydney Whimsy, who arrives at the hall at Lord Goth’s request to organise the Full-Moon Fete – an annual event.
Whimsy is a rather strange man and asks Ada to deliver a message to Marylebone, Ada’s elusive lady’s maid.
What is this mysterious Whimsy up to? And what secret is Marylebone keeping?
Ghostly Gorm Hall is a colourful and vibrant place with many interesting characters. Maltravers is the indoor gamekeeper; Mrs Beat’em, the cook; Metaphorical Smith is the legendary landscape architect and the cellars are haunted by the ghost of Peejay, a blind Irish wolfhound, whose ghostly whines can be heard echoing through the corridors.
Ada is looking forward to the Full-Moon Fete but Lord Goth feels the event is a little tedious and boring. Ada’s birthday falls on the day before the fete and her father – unfortunately – always seems to forget her birthday.
She likes to pretend that the Full-Moon Fete is a party thrown specially for her and this year she secretly hopes her father will remember her birthday.
Whimsy organises something special for this year’s event – a bake-off. And things certainly become exciting as a host of celebrity and not surprisingly, very strange, bakers descend on Ghostly Gorm Hall for the big event.
Join Ada and her best friend, Emily Cabbage, and her brother William Cabbage, on exciting adventure(s) where nothing is what it seems and where no one can be called run-of-the mill boring.
What can you expect from a a story about a girl who lives in a ghostly manor and has a vampire for a governess?
Goth Girl is beautifully illustrated and is a fun read for both pre-teens and teens alike and filled with interesting, odd and funny foot notes written by a well-travelled muscovy duck.
Incidentally my 9-year-old niece – a huge fan of Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and Harry Potter– received a copy of the first in the series, Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse, as a gift last Christmas and she thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Beasts of Clawstone Castle by Eva Ibbotson (Pan Macmillan; R185)
Madlyn Hamilton and her baby brother Rollo are sent by their parents to spend the summer with their Uncle George and quirky Aunt Emily in the country at the crumbling Clawstone Castle.
They quickly see that things are falling apart at the ancient family home, which receives only 12 or so visitors each open day, and that Uncle George and Aunty Emily desperately need help to breathe fresh life into the old castle.
Cousin Howard, who is a shy and reserved ghost, helps recruit an unlikely team of heroes. The children, with the help of Cousin Howard, Mrs Smith, a one-eyed skeleton, and Brenda, the bloodstained Bride, hatch a spooky plan to save their new home.
They have plenty of competition from the neighbouring Trembel-low Towers, just a few kilometres away, who average 300 visitors an open day.
Lord Trembellow’s 10-year-old daughter Olive isn’t the friendliest of girls and is pretty business-savvy for her age.
Olive also doesn’t believe in ghosts.
Little does she know.
Things get a bit hair-raising when a strange scientist takes a special interest in the estate’s prize white cows and the Trembellows want the grounds of Clawstone Castle for themselves (believing it would make a perfect site for a new housing estate).
Will Madlyn and Rollo’s plan work?
Is money enough to save the castle and all – living and dead – who call it home?
Mountwood School for Ghosts by Toby Ibbotson (Macmillan; R180)
Mountwood School for Ghosts is written by Toby Ibbotson, based on an original idea by his late mother, best-selling and award-winning children’s writer Eva Ibbotson.
Mountwood School for Girls is a top secret school started by three Great Hagges, namely Fredegonda, Goneril and Drusilla.
They decide ghosts are not as scary as they used to be and decide to instruct their students in the highest levels of haunting, but unfortunately some teachers (and students) have fears and issues of their own.
Although Vera the Banshee, the Stinking Druid and the Legless Warrior, sound terrifying, they are not particularly scary.
Daniel Salter likes to spend much time outdoors with his best friend Charlotte. Although he loves his home and his parents, his great-aunt Joyce is nasty, snobbish, grumpy and complains about everything. He isn’t allowed a pet because great-aunt Joyce is allergic – to everything.
The house next door to his is empty and Daniel and Charlotte hope that interesting people move in – a couple with a dog he could perhaps walk or children with whom they could play.
Daniel often thinks nothing interesting is going to happen to him but boy, is he wrong. Because Daniel can actually see ghosts.
When Daniel and Charlotte, who seem to have powerful enemies, arrive at Mountwood School looking for help. The bunch of misfit phantoms want to help the human pair but will they make things worse?
Goth Girl and the Fete Worse Than Death and both Ibbotson stories make for fun easy reading.
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