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Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Family Stories (2013)

by Joan Aiken(Favorite Author)

4.19 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1282785079 (ISBN13: 9781282785076)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Big Mouth House

review 1: This is an absolutely charming collection of short stories, written throughout Aiken's career. They concern the Armitage family, who are always having fantastic adventures, mostly on Mondays. The stories have all the wit and bite of Aiken's novels, with a certain almost Victorian feel about them that also calls to mind classic authors like E. Nesbit. I especially loved the story "The Land of Trees and Heroes," but it's difficult to pick favorites.
review 2: Joan Aiken was probably my favorite author as a middle grader and I read it all from the light and humorous 'Arabel and Mortimer' to the psychological thriller 'Nightfall' and all 'the Wolves of Whilloughby Chase' in between, but I had never read any of the Armitage family stories and don't remember my lib... morerary having them. It was a real treat to discover these and read them. What fun. Clearly would appeal to fans of E. Nesbit or Edward Eager and others who enjoy light family fantasy. Due to a wish Mrs. Armitage made when she married that life never be dull, the absolutely ordinary Armitage family frequently experiences odd occurrences on Mondays (and maybe once on a Tuesday)such as waking up to find a Unicorn in the garden and moments later a knock at the door from an official to collect money for failing to register their Unicorn. Or the day a school of wizards tried to take over there house for a school in retaliation for Mr. Armitage writing a bad review of the wizard Headmaster's book. Fabulous dead-pan humor.I feel like I 'discovered' Joan Aiken completely based on last name- it starts with an A and I would browse my library's shelves in order starting with A. I read more from authors with names earlier in the alphabet than later as a result of how my local public library was laid out. less

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