The Birthday Burglar and a Very Wicked Headmistress - Hardcover

Mahy, Margaret

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0879237201 ISBN 13: 9780879237202

Publisher: David R Godine Pub, 1988

Synopsis

In the first of these two short stories, Bassington, a rich little boy who has never had a birthday, decides to steal one from Mrs. Herringbone and Joanna Joy. In the second story, headmistress Tatiana Taffeta seeks an affluent farmer's hand in marriage.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 2-6 Mahy's superb craftsmanship shines in this equally witty, slightly longer companion piece to The Great Piratical Rumbustification & The Librarian and the Robbers (Godine, 1986). Alliteration abounds (not to mention puns, allusions, imagery, irony, and bad jokes, to boot) in the first story about a lonely boy named Bassington who is cared for by Baker, his faithful old butler. Compelled by the family tradition of burglarizing, he steals birthdays, but he is discontented and joyless. It remains for two indignant victimsfeisty roller-skater Joanna J. Joy and persnickety, wheelchair bound, long-lost-love of butler Baker, Mrs. Herringbone, to reveal the young thief's true destiny. Similar in structure and tone, the second hilarious story features an equally lively and unusual assortment of characters, as well as a volcano that spews caramel custard. This has the kind of humor that appeals to both children and grown-ups, making it ideal for family story hours. Chamberlain's line drawings (more restrained than Quertin Blake's in the other book) have a suitable vitality and humor. A real gem! Julie Corsaro, Univ . of Chicago Laboratory Schools
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

Readers who enjoyed the rambunctious, lively nonsense of Mahy's The Great Piratical Rumbustification & The Librarian and the Robbers will find in this book two similarly energetic tales. In The Birthday Burglar , young Bassington, who has never had a proper birthday, begins stealing the birthdays of others; when an unlikely but determined group sets out to reclaim its rightful celebrations, what results is friendship, a new vocation for the birthday burglar and even romance. A Very Wicked Headmistress the more sophisticated and satisfying of the two storiesfocuses on the nefarious schemes of Miss Taffeta, a former circus performer, blackmailer and cardsharp who decides to open an exclusive girls' boarding school. How Taffeta plots to gain control of a neighboring farmer's fortune creates more than one hilarious turn of events in this improbable but entertaining tale. British absurdities abound, all rendered with Mahy's sure touch. Ages 6-8.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: David R Godine Pub
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0879237201
• ISBN 13: 9780879237202
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 136