Monster Mission
Aug. 7th, 2007 09:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylHaving exhausted my own holiday reading, I was reduced to reading my nephew's copy of Monster Mission by Eva Ibbotson. Here are a few thoughts.
Etta, Coral and Myrtle live on an uncharted island in the middle of the Atlantic, where they help to look after the local wildlife. After deciding that the work has started to become too much for them to cope with on their own, they decide to recruit some children to help. In order to preserve the secret of the island and to ensure that they pick the right sort of children they decide to indulge in a bit of kidnapping.
The first child they abduct is an unhappy girl called Minette, who seems to spend all her time being sent from her feckless mother in London to her stuffy father in Edinburgh. The second is a boy called Fabio, who is being brought up to be an english gentleman by his snobbish grandparents who disapprove of his Brazilian mother. The third child is a spoilt brat called Lambert Sprott, who has his own account at Harrods and his own portable telephone. The first two children turn out well, knuckling down to the work of looking after the animals and reacting phlegmatically to the presence of various mythical creatures on the island. Lambert, on the otherhand, spends all his time screaming, throwing tantrums and demanding the return of his phone.
After a couple of weeks, the residents of the island are woken by a strange sound which has a transformative effect on the aunts, encouraging them to yet greater heights of activity. After a few weeks, the source of the sound, the Great Kraken, arrives with his young son in tow. The Kraken decides that Minette and Fabio will be ideal playmates for his boy, and so decides to spend a year and a day traveling round the world healing the damage that man has done to the sea.
In London, meanwhile, things have reached fever pitch. Minette's parents, once they finally notice her absence, spend their time selling their stories to the tabloids, while Fabio's grandparents spend their time on TV debate shows complaining about the lack of capital punishment. Lambert's abduction, however, remains overlooked until he manages to recover his mobile phone and contact his father. Smelling an opportunity, Stanley Sprott sets out on his private yacht, partly to recover his son and partly so that he can set up a zoo peopled with the mythic monsters of the island.
Needless to say, Stanley Sprott's nefarious schemes are confounded. The three aunts manage to avoid being charged with kidnapping. Minette and Fabio, whilst not getting everything they might possibly have wanted, end up with hope for the future. A very post Roald Dahl children's novel with enough in jokes to keep the parents hooked. Delightful.
Etta, Coral and Myrtle live on an uncharted island in the middle of the Atlantic, where they help to look after the local wildlife. After deciding that the work has started to become too much for them to cope with on their own, they decide to recruit some children to help. In order to preserve the secret of the island and to ensure that they pick the right sort of children they decide to indulge in a bit of kidnapping.
The first child they abduct is an unhappy girl called Minette, who seems to spend all her time being sent from her feckless mother in London to her stuffy father in Edinburgh. The second is a boy called Fabio, who is being brought up to be an english gentleman by his snobbish grandparents who disapprove of his Brazilian mother. The third child is a spoilt brat called Lambert Sprott, who has his own account at Harrods and his own portable telephone. The first two children turn out well, knuckling down to the work of looking after the animals and reacting phlegmatically to the presence of various mythical creatures on the island. Lambert, on the otherhand, spends all his time screaming, throwing tantrums and demanding the return of his phone.
After a couple of weeks, the residents of the island are woken by a strange sound which has a transformative effect on the aunts, encouraging them to yet greater heights of activity. After a few weeks, the source of the sound, the Great Kraken, arrives with his young son in tow. The Kraken decides that Minette and Fabio will be ideal playmates for his boy, and so decides to spend a year and a day traveling round the world healing the damage that man has done to the sea.
In London, meanwhile, things have reached fever pitch. Minette's parents, once they finally notice her absence, spend their time selling their stories to the tabloids, while Fabio's grandparents spend their time on TV debate shows complaining about the lack of capital punishment. Lambert's abduction, however, remains overlooked until he manages to recover his mobile phone and contact his father. Smelling an opportunity, Stanley Sprott sets out on his private yacht, partly to recover his son and partly so that he can set up a zoo peopled with the mythic monsters of the island.
Needless to say, Stanley Sprott's nefarious schemes are confounded. The three aunts manage to avoid being charged with kidnapping. Minette and Fabio, whilst not getting everything they might possibly have wanted, end up with hope for the future. A very post Roald Dahl children's novel with enough in jokes to keep the parents hooked. Delightful.
