Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: August 17, 2004
ISBN: 0060586850
Awards:  
Format Reviewed: Hardcover
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Genre: Children’s Fiction / Fantasy (ages 8-13)
Reviewed: 2004
Reviewer:
Reviewer Notes: Carisa Weeaks
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Measle and the Wrathmonk
By Ian Ogilvy


     Measle is a boy who literally lives in darkness -- a black house with a black rain storm hovered constantly above it. What’s worse though is WHY the house and the neighborhood is like that -- Measle’s legal guardian, Basil Tramplebone. There’s no water (in fact, the only thing coming out of the pipes is green sludge), no food (except for a bag of weary-looking carrots), and nothing to help Measle get out from under his evil, snaky guardian’s slimy thumb. Things look like they couldn’t get any worse - until Measle makes the mistake of making Basil angry. Now Measle is stuck in the gigantic model train set that Basil has spent nearly every waking hour on with no way out...that’s until he discovers that some parts of the mock countryside and town aren’t quite what they seem. Will Measle escape the wrath of his evil guardian? Or will he end up a tasty meal for the “something” that lurks in the rafters of the attic, watching over the plastic playground and waiting for its next meal?

     I LOVE THIS BOOK! When I saw it, I immediately thought of a Tim Burton-esque tale. I read it and couldn’t believe I had finished it so quickly. Ogilvy has taken the ingenious imagination of James and the Giant Peach and mixed it with the twisted originality of A Nightmare before Christmas and created a concoction so strange, so unique that you’ll just have to read it to believe it. Well done! With characters like these, who needs TV?!