Author is Howard Whitehouse... there are two books currently available in the series and one due out next month. The first book is The Strictest School in the World: Being the Tale of a Clever Girl, a Rubber Boy and a Collection of Flying Machines, Mostly Broken. The Second is The Faceless Fiend: Being the Tale of a Criminal Mastermind, His Masked Minions and a Princess with a Butter Knife, and the third will be The Island of Mad Scientists: Being an Excursion to the Wilds of Scotland, Involving Many Marvels of Experimental Invention, Pirates, a Heroic Cat, a Mechanical Man, and a Monkey. How could anyone resist such titles?

The series is called The Mad Misadventures of Emmaline and Rubberbones and a) it's hysterically funny, b) it's well-written, and c) the main character, Emmaline, is a brilliant young inventor with two extremely quirky friends (who are very clever in their own right). There is cartoonish peril and whatnot (and "Rubberbones" is so-called for his ability to survive peril un-injured... so I'd maybe think twice about handing this over to the sort of kid who would think "I wonder if I could do that..." LOL), but DS enjoyed it all as a fairly sensitive 7 year old (and as a slightly-less-sensitive 8 year old). There are villains, but they're similarly cartoonish -- evil schoolmistresses, fiends, and
But the good guys are very good and they always show up in the nick of time, and they make a very sweet family-of-misfits. There's some fairly subtle humor, some extremely broad humor, and plenty of "clever wins the day"... and really just some excellent storytelling.

I was just trying to get a solid date on the release to see if there was any hope of ordering it for an upcoming birthday present and thought I should take the opportunity to spread the word.

Thanks, Erica! It sounds like a marvelous series. DS7 has been asking for adventure stories, and this one sounds like great fun!

They sound wonderful, Erica. I just put my name on the hold list at the library. (I love my library!) Now I can't wait until I can read them.... Ummm... Well, maybe I can read them after my son does? With great titles like that, it will be a race to see who snatches them up first!!

I have another suggestion for a great book. I ran into a book by James A. Owen a few months back, and just got the sequel. I'll let you know about the second book, The Search for the Red Dragon. But the first book was incredible. Here is a link for:

Here, There Be Dragons (Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica)

http://www.amazon.com/There-Dragons...mp;s=books&qid=1219674645&sr=1-5

The beginning starts out a smidgen scary, with a character getting murdered, so you may want to preview it for younger kids. It is based on the idea that there exists a book of maps that can take you to imaginary literary worlds. (the book of maps, the Imaginarium Geographica, and its caretakers are the stars of the book... great for kids who love maps!) It takes all of the great novels from the past (from Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Jules Verne, Sir Conan Arthur Doyle, etc.) and weaves them into one story. So you have Captain Nemo aiding the caretakers of the map as they race off to 221 Baker Street to translate elfish clues to solve the riddle before the evil character gets the one ring of power. Oh yes, and there are dragons too. How can you beat that? The kids like the adventure, and the parents love the literary references. Really very good stuff. (you can read the reviews on Amazon for a much better idea of the book than I have had time to write.)

Oh, those sound like fun! We'll check them out. I love good book recommendation. :-)