A House Called Awful End: Book One in the Eddie Dickens Trilogy - Hardcover

Ardagh, Philip

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805068287 ISBN 13: 9780805068283

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), 2002

Synopsis

The first book in a hilarious, action-packed trilogy.

Eddie Dickens is sent off to stay with his aunt and uncle and a riotously funny comedy of errors ensues.

When both Eddie Dickens's parents catch a disease that makes them turn yellow, go a bit crinkly around the edges, and smell of hot water bottles, it's agreed he should go and stay with relatives at their house, Awful End. Unfortunately for Eddie, those relatives are Mad Uncle Jack and Even-Madder Aunt Maud. . . .

This hilarious historical spoof, the first in the Eddie Dickens trilogy, has been called "a scrumptious cross between Dickens and Monty Python."

About this title

Review:

"When Eddie Dickens was eleven years old, both his parents caught some awful disease that made them turn yellow, go a bit crinkly around the edges, and smell of old hot water bottles." So begins author Philip Ardagh's silly story of an ill-fated boy who, due to his parents' jaundiced condition, is forced to take part in a quest so preposterous that it could only conclude at A House Called Awful End. Set in England, back in the days when "postage stamps were a pretty new idea," Eddie finds himself put in the dubious care of his Mad Uncle Jack and Mad Aunt Maud, who not only assault him with a stuffed stoat and make him sleep in his trunk, but carelessly turn him over to the St. Horrid's Home for Grateful Orphans. There, he stages a breakout, smuggles himself and the other orphans out in the belly of a cow parade float, and is miraculously reunited with his newly recovered parents. And if you're thinking that this plot is utter nonsense, you're absolutely right. Ardagh originally wrote the ridiculous farce as a series of letters to entertain his nephew in boarding school and thought it may charm others as well. While adult readers may scratch their heads in bewilderment as they try to follow this riotously rambling narrative, children have long been aficionados of the absurd, and Awful End will no doubt appeal hugely to those fans of Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events and Neil Gaiman's wonderfully weird Coraline. Book one in a proposed trilogy. (Ages 9 to 12) --Jennifer Hubert

About the Author:

Philip Ardagh is over 6 feet 7 inches tall with a big bushy beard. Not only is he very large and very hairy, but he has also written around sixty children's books for all ages, though nothing quite like A House Called Awful End . . . until now. Currently living as a full-time writer with a wife and two cats in a seaside town somewhere in England, he has been--among other things--an advertising copywriter, a hospital cleaner, a (highly unqualified) librarian, and a reader for the blind.

David Roberts is so busy drawing pictures that no one is really sure what he looks like. We do know that he has illustrated several books for children and lives somewhere in England, but whether his home is near the sea or not is anybody's guess.

About this edition

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0805068287
• ISBN 13: 9780805068283
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 128
• Illustrator: Roberts David