“The Mysterious Howling: The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1” By Maryrose Wood

The Mysterious Howling
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1
By: Maryrose Wood
Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins
Release date: 02-23-10
Publisher: HarperAudio

Sometimes I have to say that kids get the best books written for them. This is one of those cases. “The Mysterious Howling” is book one in a young adult series fo books that follows the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, much like the Lemony Snicket books about the Baudelaire orphans. I will say Lemony Snicket was funnier, but this one was still good in it’s own right.

Three children who were discovered in the forests of Ashton Place have been raised by wolves, so needless to say their manners in proper company will be atrocious. They are and that’s one of the many factors that makes this book funny and fun. The governess has a task ahead of her in training/teaching the children how to behave in society. The children’s antics and the adults’ responses to their behaviour make this an audiobook that just keeps getting better as the end arrives.

This book is read by the late Katherine Kellgren. Ms. Kellgren delivers this book with so much character that you can’t help but listen. Accents, emotions and subtle meanings are all translated by Kellgren to bring you a great book. I’m hoping they got her to record the other books in the series before she passed away this past January. She will be missed.

It’s great that the first book in a series develops so much interest that I absolutely have to pick up the next book so, I will.

Publisher’s Summary

Of especially naughty children, it is sometimes said: “They must have been raised by wolves.” The Incorrigible children actually were. Discovered in the forests of Ashton Place, the Incorrigibles are no ordinary children: Alexander keeps his siblings in line with gentle nips; Cassiopeia has a bark that is (usually) worse than her bite; and Beowulf is alarmingly adept at chasing squirrels.

Luckily, Miss Penelope Lumley is no ordinary governess. Only fifteen years old and a graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, Penelope embraces the challenge of her new position. Though she is eager to instruct the children in Latin verbs and the proper use of globes, first she must eliminate their canine tendencies.But mysteries abound at Ashton Place: Who are these three wild creatures? Why does Old Timothy, the coachman, lurk around every corner? Will Penelope be able to civilize the Incorrigibles in time for Lady Constance’s holiday ball? And what on earth is a schottische?

Penelope is no stranger to mystery, as her own origins are also cloaked in secrecy. But as Agatha Swanburne herself once said, “Things may happen for a reason, but that doesn’t mean we know what the reason is—at least, not yet.

©2010 Maryrose Wood (P)2010 HarperCollins Publishers