The Blood-And-Thunder Adventure on Hurricane Peak

On Hurricane Peak you wear stone boots (to avoid being blown away, of course) and attend the Unexpected School (where only the unexpected happens). Richard Mitchley's lively interpretation of this impossible romp is perfectly paced to guide listeners through the wickedly complicated plot. From the confiding tones of the narrator, to the demonic cackle of the arch villain Sir Quincy, to the sibilant syllables of the two amorous felines--Tango and Zanzibar-- Mitchley's cast of voices seems virtually limitless and consistently appropriate. This reading suits the sparkling wit of the text in the same vein as Mitchley's earlier rendition of The Birthday Burglar & The Very Wicked Headmistress, also from Chivers. K.T.B. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Grade 3-6-- No one writes about magic better than New Zealand's inimitable Margaret Mahy. However, it is not magic alone which is needed to foil wicked industrialist Sir Quincey Judd-Sprockett and his evil designs on the Unexpected School high atop Hurricane Peak. Science, too, must be employed. How these two disparate disciplines are wedded in the service of saving this unusual school is the lighthearted theme of Mahy's latest antic adventure. More in the spirit of Nonstop Nonsense (1989) than The Changeover (1984, both McElderry) , The Blood-and-Thunder Adventure. . . may be too relentlessly whimsical in its early chapters for some readers (talking, moonstruck cats? villains of too-predictable helplessness? characters with names like Belladonna Doppler and Mrs. Thoroughgood?). But the timely introduction of magic midway through adds the necessary numen to both text and tone and transforms what had been mere frivolousness into satisfying farce. Mahy scores again! --Michael Cart, Beverly Hills Public Library
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