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

When I searched for audio Christmas books at my library's website, The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place came up and I had heard good things about it from both Sheila (The Deliberate Reader blog) and Catherine (A Spirited Mind blog). It had the added bonus of being short, at only 5 discs long, and thus easy to digest in only five or six treadmill sessions. I will say that my husband winced every time he came into the room because one of the voices the narrator used for the lady of Ashton Place was extremely high-pitched, whiny, and grating. Of course, this would probably go unnoticed by young children (the target audience is readers between the ages of 8 and 12).

Miss Penelope Lumley is on her way to her new governess job, unaware that she will be asked to rear children who were quite literally raised by wolves. Penelope has no idea where her own parents are (she, herself, was reared at the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, when her parents left for parts unknown), so she is a perfect fit for the job, even at only fifteen years old. She does her best to teach them to speak, to conjugate Latin verbs, and to memorize poetry. Will her efforts to civilize the children be enough when the lady of the house decides to show them off to guests at her Christmas party? How did a stray squirrel get into the house during the festivities and who sent the letter requesting the theatre troupe to present plays about wolves?

I will happily seek out further books in the series, but may look for the hard-cover book instead of the audio, to avoid the ear-splitting narration. I don't think it would appeal to my sons: however, for children interested in England or governess tales, this would be a perfect fit. The witty words of wisdom sprinkled throughout provide an added bonus.