Skip to main content

Review: The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science

 
By Kate McKinnon
New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2024. Fiction. 243 pages.

In this middle grade book, three orphaned girls who were raised as sisters by a horrible adopted family who clearly didn't care about them, work together to save their town. Gertrude, Eugenia, and Dee-Dee have never fit into their town of Antiquarium, Rhodechussetts. In fact, due to their misadventures and crazy science experiments they've been kicked out of every etiquette school in the entire city. When they accept a strange invitation that they receive in the mail to a new etiquette school just opening up in town to avoid being sent to finishing school in Austria, they find that the school is run by none other than Millicent Quibb, a mad scientist who is blamed for everything that goes wrong in the town. They soon find, though, that things aren't exactly how they appear and they'll need to join forces with Millicent to save everyone they know from a terrible fate.

If your kids are in to madcap adventure stories, humor books, or crazy science, this book is sure to delight them. Give this to fans of Lemony Snicket's The Series of Unfortunate Events books and they'll definitely thank you. If you like audiobooks, this is an especially fun one, narrated by McKinnon with hilarious voices and sound effects. Kids will be sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for the next installment in the series.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners) by Pamela Espeland & Elizabeth Verdick

If there's one book today's kids need to read, it is Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners) . The authors provide a fun format for teaching etiquette to children. They discuss proper behavior at home, at school, at other people's homes and in public places. The information is completely up-to-date with cellphone manners and netiquette included. Fun, cartoony illustrations are on practically every page giving the book great visual appeal. This book is perfect for boys and girls in the fourth grade or older. WARNING: Bodily functions are discussed.

Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin

Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin Illustrated by Leslie Evans Charlesburg; 2009; unpaged Faces of the Moon is a short nonfiction book that describes the different phases of the moon and why the moon appears like it does on certain nights. This book is short and sweet so even the youngest of moon lovers will enjoy it. The layout is simplistic and easy to follow. I don’t know much about the moon so I found it very interesting.

The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester 2008

J Fiction 328 pages I almost didn't finish this book. I got to Chapter 4, and was just about ready to quit (a kind of slow story about a girl, name of Piper McCloud, who discovers she can fly, parents freak out, she becomes a social outcast, yadda, yadda) but suddenly, right there in Chapter 4, the story takes a sharp turn and becomes really interesting . Piper finds herself in the company of others like her, but not "fliers", and under the care and authority of Dr. Hellion. I won't even tell you any more. Read this book. Forester does a great job of keeping you wondering who's the good guy and who's the bad? Piper is a likeable, strong, endearing character that girl readers will enjoy. But don't NOT give it to boys! The main male character is an extremely intelligent young man who is one of the ones you wonder about . . . good or bad? This is a good one, well worth your time.