Sharon Rentta

I have yet to read a book by Eva Ibbotson that I enjoy. Is it me? It must be me. This book started out great. The narration was fun and quirky. The premise was totally implausible, but I was taken with Agatha and her band of Yetis right from the start.

Agatha, while vacationing in the Himalayas, is kidnapped by a yeti. Instead of freaking out, like I would do, she falls in love with the yeti's children and decides to stay and be their mother. This part of the story is heaven for me. Cute. show more Fun. Everything I want in a book. Then one of the yeti kids leaves tracks in the snow, which leads to a boy named Con finding them. Agatha decides they are no longer safe from tourists and she elicits Con's help to get them to her home in England. She can’t go because she is too old. Without Agatha the story loses its way. The narration isn't quite as interesting. The details are a bit lacking. In short, it gets boring.

If only the yetis had stayed put… show less

What a great last book! Ibbotson at her best. I had a good laugh at almost every single page. I got this book in a giveaway, and I feel like a lucky winner. I don't think the children for whom the book is written will understand every single one of the allusions to environmental politics, the "reincarnation" of Lady Agatha, etc., but they will definitely have fun and learn inthe process. I am going to put the book in the school library where I work.

I get the impression that this was not quite ready for publication. In fact, if I'd known it was published posthumously when I spotted it at the library, I would not have chosen it. It's not terrible, but it's rough and not up to par.... Still, it's easy enough to forgive the overly earnest messages, forgive the fantastic implausibilities, and enjoy the yetis, the children, and the adventures. And Perry, Hubert, Aggie, and the rest.

A sweet story about sweet yetis brought up by the young daughter of a Victorian botanist who was collecting rare plants in the Himalayas. Lady Agatha taught them to be well-mannered and thoughtful. It paid off when, fleeing tourists, they had an adventurous journey from the Himalayas to her manor home in England. Did you know the reason a yeti hasn't been discovered is because their feet are on backwards? Their footsteps take the tracker in the opposite direction.