LoveReading4Kids Says
Shortlisted for the 2012 Guardian children's fiction prize and One of Julia Eccleshare’s Stand-out Children’s Book of the Year 2012. July 2012 Book of the Month.
Award-winning Eva Ibbotson’s charming fantasy about the rescue of an entertaining family group of Yeti and their transportation from the Himalayan Mountains to England in a frozen food lorry is touching, tender and very funny. It also carries a strong message about the need for humans to leave nature alone and especially to protect the survival of all kinds of endangered species – real and imaginary!
The manuscript of The Abominables was discovered among Eva Ibbotson's papers by her son after her death aged 85 in 2010. It's an early novel written well over 10 years ago that was never submitted for publication. However, it contains all the trademark qualities that made Eva's subsequent books including Journey to the River Sea and One Dog and his Boy so successful; comedy, loveable and eccentric characters, perfectly-crafted plotting, and inspiring themes of tolerance, kindness to animals, and the defeat of cruelty. Sharon Rentta, who drew the superb dog characters for One Dog and his Boy has illustrated it. It's a wonderful story and a classic in the making.
Reviewed by Julia Eccleshare M.B.EJulia Eccleshare has a lifetime of working within children’s books as a critic, an editor, an author and a commentator.
More reviews by Julia Eccleshare M.B.E About The Abominables
A hundred years ago, in the Himalayan peaks of Nanvi Dar, the daughter of an English earl is kidnapped by a huge hairy monster. In a secret valley Agatha Farlingham is introduced to a family of motherless yetis and devotes her life to their upbringing. She teaches them to speak, tells them stories and insists on polite manners.
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The Abominables Synopsis
A hundred years ago, in the Himalayan peaks of Nanvi Dar, the daughter of an English earl is kidnapped by a huge hairy monster. In a secret valley Agatha Farlingham is introduced to a family of motherless yetis and devotes her life to their upbringing. She teaches them to speak, tells them stories and insists on polite manners.
But as the decades pass, tourists come to the mountains, a hotel is built and yeti-hunters arrive. Agatha knows that there is one place in the world where they would be protected - her ancestral home at Farley Towers. When a boy and his sister stumble upon her hidden valley, she knows she has found the courageous people who will carry out her plan.
The excited yetis are smuggled into the bridal suite at the hotel. A freezer lorry is waiting to put them into semi-hibernation on the long trip home. But the baby yak that has fallen in love with the youngest yeti foils the refrigeration plan and they set off on a hugely entertaining road trip half way across the world.
In the Sultan of Aslerfan''s kingdom the yetis release all the animals from his zoo. In the Alps they rescue a lost child in a blizzard. In Spain, the yak creates chaos at a bullfight.
But when they arrive in England, a terrible shock awaits them at Farley Towers... This early novel, never submitted for publication, contains all the trademark qualities that made Eva''s subsequent books so successful; comedy, loveable and eccentric characters, perfectly-crafted plotting, and inspiring themes of tolerance, kindness to animals, and the defeat of cruelty.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781407135496 |
| Publication date: |
5th July 2012 |
| Author: |
Eva Ibbotson |
| Illustrator: |
Sharon Rentta |
| Publisher: |
Scholastic UK |
| Format: |
Ebook |
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Eva Ibbotson Press Reviews
Praise for One Dog and His Boy:
'An adventure to rival 101 Dalmatians' - The Times
'Blows me away' - Frank Cottrell Boyce
'A lovely, funny, beautifully written story' - Daily Mail
About Eva Ibbotson
Born in Vienna, Eva Ibbotson came to England as a small girl. She spent much of her adult life in Newcastle upon Tyne. When her husband was alive he bred snails in the garage; they also kept fish and had a small and very hairy dog. Eva had four grown-up children and seven grandchildren. She wrote for both adults and children. Which Witch was runner-up for the Carnegie Medal and The Secret of Platform 13 was shortlisted for the Smarties Prize. Journey to the River Sea won the Smarties Book Prize Gold Award, was runner-up for the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year and the Guardian Fiction Award, and was also shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.
Eva's books for older readers (12+) include: The Morning Gift, A Song for Summer, The Secret Countess, A Company of Swans and Magic Flutes. Her books for younger readers (9+) include: The Dragonfly Pool, Journey to the River Sea and The Star of Kazan.
And for even younger readers (7+): Which Witch, Dial a Ghost, Not just a Witch, Monster Mission, The Beasts of Clawstone Castle, The secret of Platform 13, The Great Ghost rescue and The Haunting of Hiram.
Eva's final novel that she completed prior to her death at the age of 85 in 2010 is called One Dog and his Boy.
Eva Ibbotson on writing:
"I started to scribble stories when I was about seven years old and I just carried on so I became a writer gradually. I didn't try to get anything published until I was quite grown-up. I write at my mother's old desk, looking out on to a leafy street, and I rewrite what I have written again and again until I get the words the way I want them (most of my pages have been through eight drafts or so). It's my belief that one should be in the same place each day, so that if an idea is hovering it knows where to find you. Ideas can come from places one has seen or conversations one has overheard - or just from nowhere! Being an author can be lonely, difficult and frustrating, but there is nothing else I'd rather be."
More About Eva Ibbotson
