Shortlisted for the Leeds Book Awards 2014, 9-11 category
Macabre and gruesome and wickedly funny, this is dark story of one boy’s determined quest to destroy those who have hurt him and his family. When Osbert wins a coveted place at the prestigious Institute he uncovers every kind of cruelty and corruption imaginable...Many children and their families have suffered in silence over the years. Osbert is made of sterner stuff; his revenge is deliberate and severe...
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The winners of the Leeds Book Awards are chosen by you! Read the books, talk about them with your friends & teachers and decide which one is your favourite. You can vote in your local library or at www.leedsbookawards.co.uk. Voting closes on Friday 25th April and the winners will be announced on Tuesday 20th May.
The first book in the gruesomely funny Tales from Schwartzgarten series. Meet Osbert Brinkhoff, the unlikeliest of avengers. His is a tale of dark delights and ghastly goings-on, of injustice and revenge. The villains are vicious. The settings are sinister. And good does NOT always prevail...If you prefer cleavers to kittens and fiends to fairies...then welcome to the Tales from Schwartzgarten.
Osbert the Avenger is the first in a thrilling series of four books, all set in the fictional city of Schwartzgarten. With shades of Lemony Snicket and Roald Dahl, the Tales from Schwartzgarten are as hilarious as they are dark, this brilliantly woven mock-gothic tale has huge child appeal.
Orchard Books have created a very useful Teachers Pack to accompany this book - interesting to parents too! Click here to download it.
An idiosyncratic comic fantasy... it is likely that children will be most enthusiastic. -- Books For Keeps
Highly original... gruesome but funny. -- parentsintouch.co.uk
A refreshingly unusual read. -- Peters Gazette
Looks set to be a hugely successful new series. Marvelously detailed. There are three more bloodthirsty and hilarious adventures to come. -- School Librarian
A macabre tale full of ghoulish and gruesome escapades. A frightening but appealing anti-hero. -- Booktrust
A riveting story - a clever mix of humour with some very dark and gruesome moments and a couple of real shocks towards the end. -- Primary Times
If you love your teachers and have never entertained the thought of murdering them in the most diabolically appropriate way, then this book should probably be avoided at all costs. -- Lion & Unicorn Books
Author
About Christopher William Hill
Christopher William Hill was born in Truro, in Cornwall - a little jaundiced, but that was to be expected in the grim days of the 1970s. His mother was a former nurse, so Christopher grew up with a copy of Black's Medical Dictionary to hand, which was ideal reading matter for an enthusiastic hypochondriac. He liked acting and putting on silly voices, and collecting ancient relics which he gathered in a large walk-in wardrobe that called his 'museum'. Christopher loves walking, ocean liners, airships, Victoriana and cake shops.
