The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book II: The Hidden Gallery (2011)

While Ashton Place is being repaired due to the damage caused by the Incorrigibles at the Christmas party, the entire household rents a house in London for a few weeks. Miss Lumley meets an attractive young playwright, and the children have a BLAST. But of course, more mysteries arise and the children run wild and cause another catastrophe.

This book is even better than the first, most likely due to the fact that it takes place in London instead of a mansion in the middle of nowhere. But don't expect any answers from this one either. It reveals nothing and raises even MORE questions. ( )

This is such a fun series, in this one we find out that there is a curse on the children, we also get a few more hints at a connections between Miss Lumley and the children beyond the fact that she is their governess, also what is going on with Lord Ashton and just what is his actual connection with the children. Miss Lumley also meets a very interesting man named Simon who may end up being the man for her. Old Tom may not be as creepy and scary as we first assumed. Also what is the connection with the paintings in the secret room in the museum and the paintings in the attic?

When Miss Lumley, Simon and the children go to a West End production about pirates Miss Lumley thinks this will be a great educational opportunity for the children but as you can guess things do not go as planned what happens at the show and the chase through the streets of London were hilarious. We also get more of the gypsy woman and a parrot and pirates.

I also love that the children will say the most intelligent things then end the sentence with a howl. I can’t wait to know the answers to my questions and to spend more time with these incorrigible children.

As usual Katherine Kellgren’s narration was pure perfection, her narration of Lady Constance is such fun and in my head she is classic movie star Billie Burke (Mrs.Topper, the mother in You Can’t Take it With You and Glinda the good witch in Wizard of Oz, she’s a great actress). Katherine does these awhooof’s of the children’s language so well. I can’t imagine anyone else doing as good of a job as Katherine Kellgren does!

I am hoping book 3 will be available from the library soon; I need to know what happens next.

4 ½ Stars ( )

So I like Wood's writing. It is very Lemony Snickett. But...I wonder about the appeal. I enjoy the humorous references and winks to the time period but I wonder how much kids will pick up on this. Which is why I gave it a tween and ya. But still a fun book. ( )

Greatly enjoying this series; looking forward to reading the rest. I like how the clues to the series long mystery are slowly unveiled while the book-specific issues are resolved (at least mostly); paying attention is rewarded in the long run. I'm actually really looking forward to listening to this series on audio as well. ( )

Z really enjoys the Snicket-y writing style of Maryrose Wood, enough so that the slower parts of this book featuring the blossoming Victorian "friendship" between Miss Lumley and Mr. Harley-Dickenson did not sway him from really digging this sequel.
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