Hubert Horatio Bartle Bobton-Trent
Lauren Child delivers everything I've come to expect from her in this hilarious, rather offbeat picture book: an incredibly original plot line - told through her witty, deadpan text that travels across the page - accompanied by her wonderful cartoon-like illustrations (can you tell that two of her influences are Quentin Blake and Edward Gorey?)...
"Hubert Horatio Bartle Bobton-Trent’s parents were extravagant socialisers.
Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of extravagant socialising is that it tends to be very expensive. They hadn’t noticed that the bills were piling up because they didn’t know what a bill was. As far as they were concerned, a brown-paper envelope was very useful for writing Scrabble scores on.
It was left to their one and only child-genius son, Hubert Horatio Bartle Bobton-Trent, to sort out – for he was the only one in the family aware that money did not, after all, grow on trees."
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"There turned out to be no more than a paper clip and a slightly hairy cough drop.
It dawned on Hubert that the Bobton-Trent fortune was in a very bad way.
i.e. , There was none." |
As their dear companion, Hubert is right beside his parents - at their lavish parties, playing Monopoly, drinking hot cocoa (well, it gets cold because Hubert's journey, across their huge mansion to his parents' room to say goodnight, results in it cooling off!) Responsible Hubert and his fellow prodigy friend (Stanton Harcourt III) devise a plan to save the Bobton-Trent estate, but the solution is not what they expect!
You and your child will equally love this unexpected riches to rags story. It is a charming reminder about the value of things that money can't buy!
Best for ages Kindergarten and up. (The dry humor and lengthy text might make it hard for children under 6 to enjoy. But a younger child with a quick wit and sophisticated sense of humor will appreciate this book.)
"The key to life is to stop getting so anxious about things," - Lauren Child.
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