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Did you miss us? Sorry about the long hiatus, but we're back and ready to kick off some summer reading fun! Stay tuned for books for every age range, now including young adult and teen. We look forward to sharing our thoughts with you guys and reading your thoughts. And if you don't already follow our blog, please do! Spread the word far and wide, tell your friends and family. Let's get ready to READ!!!!!!!!!

For Ages 9 and Up

Horton Halfpott OR the Fiendish Mystery of Smugwick Manor
OR The Loosening of M'lady Luggertuck's Corset
By Tom Angleberger

There are so many exciting things in this book- a Stolen Diamond, snooping stable boys, a famous detective, love, pickle eclairs- that it really does seem a shame to begin with ladies' underwear......

It all starts when M'Lady Luggertuck loosens her corset. As a result of "the Loosening", all the strict rules around Smugwick Manor are abandoned. Shelves go undusted! Cake is eaten! Lunch is lukewarm! Then, when the precious family heirloom, the Luggertuck Lump (quite literally a lump), goes missing, the Luggertucks search for someone to blame. Could the thief really be Horton Halfpott, the good-natured but lowly kitchen boy who can't tell a lie?


I got off to a bit of a slow start with this book. It was very strange, which I like, so I don't really know what took me so long to get into it. It turned out to be a very cute and funny story. My favorite character was, of course, Horton, the lowly kitchen boy. Celia Sylvan-Smith was my second favorite character, followed closely by the band of shipless pirates.


This book had a lot of advanced vocabulary, so kids will need to have a dictionary handy. I think fans of Tom Angleberger's The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda may be a little disappointed in this book. It's still funny, but it lacks the mass appeal of Origami Yoda. It's just a completely different kind of story.


Rating: Borrow it from the library