Island of the Aunts - Hardcover

Eva Ibbotson, born Maria Charlotte Michelle Wiesner (1925–2010), was an Austrian-born British novelist, known for her children's books. Some of her novels for adults have been successfully reissued for the young adult market in recent years. For the historical novel Journey to the River Sea (Macmillan, 2001), she won the Smarties Prize in category 9–11 years, garnered unusual commendation as runner-up for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, and made the Carnegie Medal, Whitbread Award, and Blue Peter Book Award shortlists. She was a finalist for the 2010 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize at the time of her death. Her last book, The Abominables, was one of eight books on the longlist for the same award in 2012.

Kevin Hawkes is the author and illustrator of The Wicked Big Toddlah and The Wicked Big Toddlah Goes to New York, and is the illustrator of many well-loved books for young readers including Imagine That:! How Dr. Seuss Wrote the Cat in the Hat, Library Lion, My Little Sister Ate One Hare, My Little Sister Hugged an Ape, And to Think That We Thought That We'd Never Be Friends, The Road to Oz, Velma Gratch, and The Way Cool Butterfly. He lives in Gorham, Maine.

Grade 4-6-It isn't easy taking care of an entire island and its needy, sometimes magical inhabitants and visitors, so the caregivers, Aunts Myrtle, Etta, and Coral, decide to kidnap three children from London to help them with such tasks as cleaning mermaids who were caught in an oil slick and coaxing an egg-bound boobrie to lay its enormous eggs. Two of the children, Fabio and Minette, turn out to be enthusiastic workers who grow to love the island and their charges, but Lambert Sprott is a cell-phone-addicted brat. In fact, it is Lambert's nefarious father who, in rescuing his son, makes a near-successful attempt to exploit the isle's magical creatures for his own gain. The tone of this book is as no-nonsense as stern but kind Aunt Etta. No mercy is shown to self-obsessed, environment-polluting grown-ups and nasty, ill-behaved children, but sanctimony is held at bay by the dry humor that permeates the story. The plunder of the sanctuary by Mr. Sprott and his crew is filled with scenes of real menace and suspense-readers will not be able to put the book down until they know for sure that all the island's inhabitants are safe and sound. The 14 black-and-white illustrations add quiet charm and humor. A fine choice for fantasy lovers, especially fans of E. Nesbit, Edward Eager, and Jane Langton.
Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library
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