The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling

Wonderful and very fun little story and excellent storytelling. I love the rhythm of the prose and the structure with her frequent and humorous little back references to things from a couple pages earlier.
I'm having a little more trouble than I expected finding the next one and I'm anxious. ( )

Great story with all the elements to keep kids reading. Loved the idea and the governess character. ( )

Oh what fun this book was! Miss Penelope Lumley is hired as a governess to 3 very unusual children, said children were found in the wild and had been raised by wolves and Penelope has only a short time to make them presentable in a social setting, a party to be exact and when Miss Lumley exaggerates their progress to the lady of the house well you can be sure that all will not go smoothly.

I enjoyed the first book in this middle grade series so much that I will be starting book 2 immediately. I liked the character of Penelope I thought she was strong and resourceful. The children are more intelligent than the family gives them credit for yet are still pretty wild which makes for a whole lot of fun and adventure. There is also a bit of mystery and some secrets in this house, like who is to blame for the scene at the Christmas party? What is the creepy coachman Timothy up to? Will Lady Constance really put the children out? This is why I must continue reading right away so many questions need answers and so many adventures to be had. I am hoping that we get to know the children as individuals in the books to come; I was taken with Cassiopeia but would like to learn more about the boys.

I am already a huge fan of Katherine Kellgren so not surprisingly her narration of this book was fabulous but she never ceases to amaze me with what she can get her voice to do, in this one she has to give these children a wolfish quality to their voices when they are speaking to others and a wolf language all their own when they are speaking to each other, she pulls it off perfectly. Every single character is defined and you never have to guess who is talking.

I highly recommend this series (yes I know I’ve only read book one but it is so fun!). I would recommend it on audio I think this would make for a fabulous family road trip listen.

4 ½ Stars ( )

- Audiobook - Penelope Lumley graduates from Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females and gets a (suspicious, to the reader's eyes) job as a governess to a very rich family. It turns out that her three pupils don't actually belong to the rich family, they're just three feral children that Lord Ashton found in the forest. Extremely suspicious.

Penelope is a kind, smart, resourceful, poised, and generally likeable main character. She's particularly relatable for us readers, as she solves most of her problems by remembering things she has read in books.

The book was very cute, but confusingly short. There's no real resolution, nor a cliffhanger, the story just stops like it's the end of a chapter. Ah well. I'll probably listen to the next in the series soon. ( )

This delightful cross between Jane Austen and Lemony Snickett may not appeal to all kids, but will certainly be appreciated by those who enjoy dry British humor (although author Maryrose Wood is actually a New Yorker and not a Brit). This opening story of 15-year-old governess Penelope Lumley and her three charges sets the stage for many further adventures. Although the three siblings in Miss Lumley's care have been raised by wolves and only recently brought into the "civilized" world, it quickly becomes clear that a mansion and nice clothes do not a civilized society make, and that the children are not the true beasts of this tale. ( )