In the kick-off novel in the Mad Misadventures series, 14-year-old pioneering aviatrix Emmaline Cayley is afraid of one thing: plummeting to her doom. Fortunately, 12-year-old Robert Burns, an indestructible village boy, is not. Absurdly unafraid of bodily harm, "Rubberbones" is the ideal pilot for Emmaline's experiments with flight. But before Emmaline can perfect a flying machine with the aid of her new friend, she is sent off to St. Grimelda's School for Young Ladies -- to be cured of her decidedly unladylike ways. It is a school so strict, so severe, so forbidding that it makes the brutal misery in the tales of Charles Dickens look cheery by comparison. With a horrifying headmistress, terrifying teachers and food that is even worse than Aunt Lucy's, this medieval stronghold also houses a terrible secret and a mysterious way of keeping its prisoners, er, its students in line. All Emmaline can think of is escape. But no one has ever escaped from St. Grimelda's. And our heroine soon realizes that the only way out is to face her greatest fear.
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From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8–Emmaline Cayley grew up in India, but as she approaches the age of 14, her very proper mother (who is married to a very proper British colonial official) sends her home to England to attend the harsh St. Grimelda's School for Young Ladies. Emmaline is not interested in becoming a young lady–she wants to follow in the footsteps of her great-great-uncle, Sir George Cayley, and design flying machines. In the weeks before school starts, she teams up with Rab, a 12-year-old village boy whom everyone calls Rubberbones because he can fall out of a tree or get hit by a brick and suffer no damage, and the two of them build several gliders. Once Emmaline goes off to St. Grimelda's, her potty Aunt Lucy, Rubberbones, and their allies realize what a horror the place is and initiate an elaborate plot to help her escape on a giant, smuggled-in, homemade kite. This comic tale of a slightly alternative Victorian England is goofy and fun. It loses some of its impact, however, because the school–which uses the fearsome pterodactyls it has owned since the 16th century to catch any girls who try to escape–is built up as a horror. But its pompous, ruler-wielding headmistress and teachers don't seem to frighten Emmaline and her friends much, so they won't scare readers, either. Slavin's intricate pen-and-ink drawings are properly atmospheric. A sequel is virtually guaranteed.–Walter Minkel, New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
This comic tale is goofy and fun ? Slavin’s intricate pen-and-ink drawings are properly atmospheric.
A fun novel ...
A fun novel ...
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Fun, Madcap Adventure. Not to be Missed!,
By The story is set in Yorkshire, England in 1894 (the late Victorian Era). The two protagonists are fourteen-year-old Emmaline Cayley and twelve-year-old Robert Burns (also called Rab). Emmaline is sent from India, where she has grown up, to live with her Aunt Lucy in England, prior to attending boarding school. (There are definite echoes here of Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden and The Little Princess, though Emmaline is a more independent thinker than either Sara Crewe or Mary Lennox.) Emmaline is obsessed with creating a flying machine, even though she herself is afraid of flying. Imagine her delight when she meets the intrepid Rab, called Rubberbones because of his rubber-like ability to survive falls with nary a scratch. Rubberbones, who has dropped out of school to earn money for his family, is more than happy to be paid by Aunt Lucy to support Emmaline in her flying machine projects. And Rubberbones turns out to have an instinctive knack for aviation. Together, with the support of Aunt Lucy and her unconventional butler Lal Singh, the two spend the summer constructing flying machines. They have varying degrees of success. Their happy world is interrupted, however, when Emmaline is sent away to school. The school that her mother has selected for her, sight unseen, has a reputation for being "the strictest school for girls in the world." Emmaline has difficulty adjusting, particularly after the relative freedom of her Aunt Lucy's house. "St. Grimelda's made her think of the novels of Charles Dickens, with their slum conditions, mean relations, dashed hopes, and general aspects of brutal misery (and miserable brutality). But they were cheery tales compared with daily life at St. Grimelda's. The girls themselves were beastly to one another. Since almost nothing enjoyable was allowed, girls tried to hide small things, like sweets and trinkets. Every piece of this "contraband" -- as if it were smuggler's cargo -- would be seized by older girls. ... Strangely, though the girls spent a lot of effort being horrible to one another, they were extremely -- in fact weirdly -- obedient to the teachers, especially Mrs. Wackett and Matron. Teachers simply reminded the girls of "the consequences of misbehavior," and the girls shuddered, turned pale and jumped to attention. Or fainted." (Above quotes from Chapter 9: A Dickensian Sort of Chapter) Yes, St. Grimelda's school is a terrible place, filled with rules, privations, meanness and betrayal among the students, and an undisclosed punishment that leaves the girls gibbering with fear. Emmaline quickly realizes that she must find a way to escape. However, escape is not so easy. She's not permitted visitors, and her letters are screened. The castle is surrounded by a wall, and hardly anyone is allowed in or out. Emmaline has to reach deep within herself for bravery and ingenuity to find a way out. Meanwhile, her scatterbrained but loving Aunt Lucy, and Lucy's loyal companions Lal Singh and Rubberbones, quickly realize from Emmaline's colorless letters that something is very wrong. They put aside everything else to travel to the school, and work from the outside to find a way to help Emmaline escape. They, and Emmaline, receive help from a variety of unexpected sources, but also encounter dangerous enemies, in their mutual quest to extricate Emmaline from St. Grimelda's. There is a lot to like about this book. The author's voice is hilarious, with matter-of-fact recounting of tragedies, and sly insertions of humor. The naming of the characters reminds me a bit of Roald Dahl (e.g. Miss Sharpelbow, a terrifying teacher, and Professor Bellbuckle, a mad inventor). The plot, with loyal relatives trying to help a young girl escape from a prison of a school, reminds me of one of the main sub-plots in Eva Ibbotson's The Star of Kazan. However, The Strictest School in the World is more humorous and in tone, with more over-the-top behavior. The humor of the book keeps the Gothic overtones from ever being too much. This book has examples of both loyalty and betrayal. Emmaline learns what true friendship means, and what it takes to trust someone (and when not to trust someone). The lengths that the people who love Emmaline are willing to go to to rescue her are heart-warming. The ending is very satisfying, too. I think that upper elementary school kids, both boys and girls, will love this book. I look forward to future books in the series. This book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on October 1, 2006.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Agreed! Don't Miss this Book!!,
By Emmaline Cayley dreams of flying. Her great-great-uncle was Sir George Cayley, a historical figure and pioneer in aviation, and she uses his plans to design flying machines. Her only problem is that she herself is afraid to fly. When Emmaline is fourteen, she is sent by her clueless parents from India to England to attend St. Grimelda's School for Young Ladies. The only benefit to this arrangement is that she has the opportunity to stay with her slightly-unhinged Aunt Lucy before the term starts. There she meets "Rubberbones" or "Rab," a small boy who never hurts himself when he falls. Rather, he bounces on impact. Emmaline has found her pilot and, in her aunt, a source of funding for her inventions. When Emmaline is sent to school, all inventing has to stop. Instead, she's a student at a the "strictest school in the world." The girls live in fear, the matron is a monster, and a couple of "birds" patrol the ground. Soon a rescue operation is under way to save Emmaline from St. Grimelda's. "The Strictest School in the World" is funny, smart, and exciting. Emmaline is a wonderful character, a girl scientist who is unflinching in the face of danger. Give this one to a Middle Grade reader today!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mad Victorian Fun,
By
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