Horton Halfpott

March 28, 2011
Angleberger's rambling title sets readers up for this oddly entertaining tale of a downtrodden, mistreated kitchen boy who, through a series of haphazard events, becomes an unlikely hero. Horton Halfpott is a hardworking but oft-beaten servant at Smugwick Manor, home to the wealthy Luggertucks, including the nasty and demanding M'Lady Luggertuck and her cruel son, Luther. Comically ruthless and greedy, these two antagonists make their multitude of servants outright miserable. When a family treasure goes missing, a bumbling detective is brought it to find the culprit. Readers will enjoy Angleberger's (The Strange Case of Origami Yoda) penchant for the absurd as well as his many droll asides: "Fear not, Reader, we will not dwell on these romantic inklings, not if you don't wish to," he writes after "the most beautiful girl had ever seen" smiles at him. "But it really was a nice smile." The ending satisfies, and with Angleberger's many eclectic characters, his wild-and-witty storytelling, and a lighthearted but perplexing mysteryâinvolving a "lump" of diamonds, a couple of wigs, and a bust of Napoleonâreaders are in for a treat. Ages 8â12.

November 1, 2011

Gr 4-7-Mix eccentric characters, outlandish objects, love, slapstick humor, and a mystery in an English manor, and the result is this goofy, romantic, and engaging tale (Amulet, 2011) by Tom Angleberger. Horton Halfpott is an earnest young kitchen boy employed by M'Lady Luggertuck. He falls for the beautiful Miss Celia, a rich and delightful young lady, but he's only a poor servant and could never be worthy of her love. When Luther, the evil and scheming son of M'Lady, realizes that Horton is in love with Celia, he decides he must have the girl for himself and concocts a plan to have her kidnapped from the costume ball his mother is throwing. Meanwhile, M'Lady is busy ordering the servants to clean, cook, loosen her corset, and fluff her wig. Listeners will laugh out loud at the clever descriptions of M'Lady's "Wig Room" and several of her special wigs. The climax involves a ballroom full of costumed guests, the cook dressed as Bo Peep, land-locked pirates employed by Luther as kidnappers, Horton and Celia costumed as equestrians, Celia's 20 suitors dressed as Romeos, and trays of green pickle eclairs flying through the air. Ron Keith does an amazing job with the many and varied characters. Clever dialogue with an abundance of silly alliteration makes listening thoroughly enjoyable. An excellent lead-in to class discussions about writing techniques such as plot, dialogue, characterization, description, and humor.-Nancy Baumann, University of Columbia-Missouri

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