Alex and the Ironic Gentleman [Hardcover]

Adrienne Kress (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up

Fans of Lemony Snicket, Harriet the Spy, and Alice in Wonderland will love this witty, magical fantasy and its unforgettable tomboy heroine.

A smart, funny mixture of fantasy and high adventure, Alex and the Ironic Gentleman tells the story of Alex Morningside, an inquisitive ten-and-a-half-year-old girl who lives with her uncle above a doorknob shop. A student at the prestigious Wigpowder-Steele Academy, Alex is often mistaken for a boy because of her bowl haircut, but that's okay -- she has an excellent sense of humor.

Alex hates Wigpowder-Steele because as much as she enjoys learning, she doesn't enjoy wearing a uniform with a skirt. She also doesn't enjoy her teachers, who are all very old and smell funny and don't seem to know about any of the developments that have happened in the world in the last thirty years. And she most definitely does not enjoy her peers, who are quite simply ridiculous. However, that's okay, too, because her peers don't enjoy her much either. Luckily for Alex, the new school year brings an exciting new teacher. Mr. Underwood makes lessons fun and teaches her how to fence. But Mr. Underwood has a mysterious family secret -- the swashbuckling and buried treasure kind -- and not everyone is glad he has come to Wigpowder-Steele.

When the pirates of a ship called The Ironic Gentleman kidnap her beloved teacher, Alex sets off on a through-the-looking-glass journey to rescue him, along the way encountering a steady stream of hilarious and colorful characters, including one Captain Magnanimous, Coriander the Conjurer, and the Extremely Ginormous Octopus. Funny, charming, and ultimately tender, Alex and the Ironic Gentleman ends with a twist that readers will find as heartwarming as it is surprising.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I read Alex and the Ironic Gentleman, and to be honest it had me at the title. A clever title to live up to and the story did not disappoint. I found it quirky, hilarious and genuinely exhilirating. There was a nod to Lewis Carroll and a wink to Charles Dickens, but no more than that, Adrienne's words are packed with originality. Alex is a wonderful hero who deserves to return for further adventures, indeed I suspect there will be a riot if she does not. Great plot, larger than life characters. The future is bright." -- Eoin Colfer, Best-selling Author of the Artemis Fowl Series

"This is a swashbuckling tale of adventure and loyalty in the tradition of The Princess Bride and Harry Potter." -- Michelle Branch, Editor Smartgirl.org

Starred Review.
Kress's debut is a wonderful blend of whimsy and moral, with winks at the reader on every page. Alex, who lives with her uncle in the flat above their doorknob shop, is dreading the sixth grade and the stern teacher who comes with it, but on the first day she learns that a new teacher has been installed - the young Mr. Underwood ("a marvelous teacher despite being ever so distinctly odd"). He turns out to be a descendant of a famous pirate, and soon three vicious men turn up in town, looking for a map to a fabled family treasure. The map is somewhere in a stately manor house, run by the vicious old ladies of the Daughters of the Founding Fathers' Preservation Society; Alex finds the map and escapes, but returns home to find that her uncle has been killed and Mr. Underwood has been kidnapped by the pirates of the shop Ironic Gentleman. She sets off to find him and has some odd encounters along the way (at one point, she meets an enormous octopus, distraught over how computer animation has wrecked his movie career). Eventually, Alex ends up on the Ironic Gentleman, face to face with the dreaded Captain Steele the Inevitable, whose identity comes as a big surprise. Kress has a delightfully simple, observational prose style that recalls A.A. Milne, right down to the frequent capitalization of Good Things and Very Interesting Things and so on. This inspired book should hold up to many re-readings. Ages 10-up. -- Publishers Weekly, September 2007

About the Author

Adrienne Kress is a writer and actress from Toronto. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto and has studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. Her work has been performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, among other venues in Canada and the UK. This is her first novel.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Weinstein Books; 1 edition (September 18, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 160286005X
• ISBN-13: 978-1602860056
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,541,037 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In which we meet Alex Morningside..., July 21, 2007

By 

Amanda Richards (Georgetown, Guyana) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alex and the Ironic Gentleman (Hardcover)

This book is sure to be a hit with fans of A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Artemis Fowl and Children Of The Lamp. Imaginative and funny, action packed and exciting, this is a book that any child (and some adults) would want to read again and again.

Alex is an orphan, her parents having been involved in a tragic spelunking incident in Iceland. She lives with her Uncle, who owns a doorknob store on the side of a bridge, and she attends a fancy-schmancy school called The Wigpowder-Steele Academy.

It seems that the original Wigpowder was a very wealthy pirate, who entrusted the distribution of his spoils to a rich philanthropist named Steele by way of a treasure map. Over time, bitter family feuds and fencing duels, the location of the map was forgotten and new generations of Wigpowders and Steeles are still quite busy hunting for it. Sure enough, some very unpleasant gentlemen soon arrive in town, and before long the trouble begins.

The next chapters follow Alex on dangerous missions, including encounters with the dastardly Daughters of the Founding Fathers' Preservation Society, a train ride to nowhere in particular, and a hotel very much like the Hotel California (you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.) She also encounters fascinating characters like The Extremely Ginormous Octopus, Lord Poppinjay, the MakeCold 6000 and Coriander the Conjuror, and ingeniously named places like Port Cullis and The Gangrene Inn.

Her goal is to find the notorious Pirate Captain Steele and the ship Ironic Gentleman, and then hopefully successfully execute a rescue mission. Along the way she enlists the services of the noble and upright Captain Magnanimous and his ship HMS Valiant, and takes part in a nautical battle. As if all that weren't enough, there's a tricky riddle still to be solved, and treasure to be found.

Immensely entertaining and wonderfully creative, this one is highly recommended for readers of all ages.


Amanda Richards

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Delightful!, September 21, 2007

By 

Alice Loweecey "eclectic writer" (Buffalo, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Alex and the Ironic Gentleman (Hardcover)

Reading Adrienne Kress' Alex and the Ironic Gentleman is like plunging back into childhood. Like the first time I read
The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Puffin Novels).

This is not hyperbole. Kress' narrative voice pulled me in and made me feel like I was riding next to Alex on her bike through the forest, dancing the Charleston on a mysterious train, and always, always searching for her missing teacher, Mr. Underwood. (That's Alex as in Alexandra, in case anyone is puzzled.) Kress' villains are creepy and just a little bit buffoonish, perfect for a Middle Grade book. Her pirates (Of course there are pirates. And sword fighting. And buried treasure.) are definitely not the good guys. The true heroes in this book are the unexpected ones.

On her quest to rescue Mr. Underwood, Alex's adventures run the gamut of "eww, gross!" to despair to excitement to joy. How gross? Locked in an old mansion and forced to give foot rubs to sinister old ladies who all have damp, smelly, squishy feet. How joyous? Sorry. I won't spoil the swashbuckling climax.

Alex is a modern girl in a modern world. One of the pirates uses a laptop to chronicle their history. The police station has a standard two-way mirror. And Alex attempts to convince one character that being a movie star is a good career move. Kress weaves sparkling fantasy seamlessly into this contemporary setting: the reluctant actor just happens to be the Extremely Ginormous Octopus. And every time Giggles the cat gave Alex a dirty look, I expected him to start talking..

Not much makes me feel like a kid again. Alex and the Ironic Gentleman did it by page five. Like one of those old movie trailers, I laughed, I cried, I wanted more.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read!, December 13, 2007

By 

R. Potter (Wayne, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Alex and the Ironic Gentleman (Hardcover)

I loved this book! It held my attention from beginning to end and I wasn't sure how that ending would happen. When it did, it was very satisfying. I'll definitely be reading more by Kress. Great book!