Monster Mission [Hardcover]

Eva Ibbotson (Author), Teresa Sdralevich (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2003 | ISBN-10: 0333746325 | ISBN-13: 978-0333746325

Panic seizes the country when 3 children are snatched by a gang of kidnapping aunts. But far away, on a mysterious island, the children soon realize that their strange captors are not like normal criminals. In fact, aunts Coral, Etta and Myrtle are on a secret mission.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Eva Ibbotson lives in Newcastle upon Tyne and has four grown-up children. She has written ten other books for children, which have been translated into many languages. She has won several major awards for her work, and two major movies based on her books are currently in development. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan Childrens (February 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0333746325
• ISBN-13: 978-0333746325
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,821,669 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This IS Island of The Aunts, November 6, 2001

By 

Marige O'Brien (Port Murray, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Monster Mission (Audio Cassette)

Whether it was a re-release, or the English version of the same story, this is the same book as Island of the Aunts. You can imagine my daughter's and my disappointment when, just after finishing Island of the Aunts, we opened this-- only to read, ver batim, the exact same opening words.

I was not happy-- there WAS no description in Amazon.com of this book because it was used. (...)

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Duplicates "The Island of the Aunts", but read on..., December 13, 2005

By 

microjoe - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Monster Mission (Paperback)

As you may have read from other reviewers, this book is identical in text/content to "The Island of the Aunts" from the same author. Please don't blame the author for this, as the problem lies with two different publishers both owning rights to print the book. (Puffin, and Macmillan) The book by one publisher has a different title and different cover art but it is the same book, word for word. This happened to another Ibbotson book "The Haunting of Hiram C. Hopgood" and "The Haunting of Granite Falls", are identical as well. To make it more confusing, I bought a book before these US releases, "The Haunting of Hiram" in Canada, and it is also the same book with yet another cover and title.

As long as you know BEFORE you buy, it's OK since you can pick which cover art you prefer. I happen to like the Macmillan cover more than the Puffin cover on both books myself, but at least I could choose. The down side of all this, is that I think that buyers are hesitant to rush to buy a new Ibbotson book until they learn more about is, as they are afraid it may duplicate a book they have. This gets harder when you are buying for someone else.

Now, the book that is for sale on this page "Monster Mission", is a great story. It is about three aunts that live on a magical island, whose mission is to care for the magic and mythical creatures of the world, mending them when they are hurt and that sort of thing. As they are getting up in years, they decide they need someone to take their place and it will take some time to train them. They know that it must be children, as they could understand the magic better and believe what they are seeing. So these kind gentle souls decide the best way to get them to the island is to kidnap them! They travel to London to take their time studying different kids to find those that have the right tempemperment and the best chance of success... they need good kind-hearted, smart kids. They find some but, also accidentaly steal another kid who is a beastly mean brat. To make matters worse a ship has arrived to pollute the island and exploit the creatures. This story is sweet and hilarious, dripping with suspense, full of imagination and memorable characters.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Island of the Aunts on cassette, January 19, 2002

By 

Elay Oftedahl "Elay Oftedahl" (Vancouver, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Monster Mission (Audio Cassette)

If this is truly Island of the Aunts, then it is a good story. Just beware that publishers like to rename and reissue books to see if they'll sell better.