OTTOLINE GOES TO SCHOOL
written and illustrated by Chris Riddell
HarperCollins Children’s Books
ISBN: 9780061449000
Ages 8-12
176 pages
The best kids’ books are ones that entertain and delight, compelling young readers to finish the story, relate emotionally and wonder at the marvels between the covers. Truly fantastic kids’ books challenge young readers to think about the world (and themselves) in new ways. When OTTOLINE GOES TO SCHOOL arrived in the mail, I knew I held in my hands a book that did all of the above.
In this second Ottoline book, written and illustrated by Chris Riddell, Ottoline is still living in the Pepperpot building, mostly far from her parents who are traveling collectors. She and her best friend and guardian, a Norwegian bog creature named Mr. Munroe, are strolling through Pettigrew Park and Ornamental Gardens one Tuesday morning when they meet an interesting young girl named Cecily Forbes-Lawrence III, who is with her Patagonian pony, Mumbles. Cecily, like Ottoline, is apart from her parents much of the time. Her father was busy in banking and her mother at the Big City Museum of Modern Art. Cecily has to schedule bedtime stories with her parents’ secretaries well in advance. Ottoline and Cecily bond over their orphan-like existence and love of fanciful stories. But Mr. Munroe grows jealous and feels ignored.
His feeling of isolation grows stronger when Ottoline decides to follow Cecily to boarding school, and Mr. Munroe has to live in the pets’ quarters with a toucan, a small hairy elephant, an invisible dog, a robot and Mumbles. Mr. Munroe's thoughts are never expressed in words as Riddell doesn't give him any dialogue, and in fact, only a bit of his eyes shows as most of his body is covered in long shaggy hair. It is a testament to Riddell's skill and artistry that though he never talks, Mr. Munroe is perfectly easy to understand.
Though Ottoline has never been to school before, she is excited to join the handful of other students at The Alice B. Smith School for the Differently Gifted. She is eager to discover her own different gift. But her classes, such as Paper Folding, Advanced Musing, Seeming, Being and Whistling Choir, don't seem to help in that direction, as fun as they are. The Wright Sisters are talented at aerial flower arranging and the Sultana of Pahang at curtain origami, but Ottoline worries she will never find out what her own different gift is.
On top of her academic dilemma, Ottoline, along with Mr. Munroe, is working to solve a mystery at the school: things are going missing, and students are being gently sabotaged and warned to leave the school. Could it be one of the school's many ghosts? Or is there a living culprit behind the haunting? Just as they brought down the sinister Yellow Cat in OTTOLINE AND THE YELLOW CAT, Ottoline and her Norwegian sidekick plan to solve this mystery as well.
Once again Chris Riddell succeeds in marrying a fun and quirky mystery to his charming, detailed and strange line drawings. Ottoline is a fantastic character, as lovely to look at as she is fun to cheer on. She is clever, stylish, kind-hearted and odd; the kind of character who, like all the best ones in children's literature, are full of energy and totally unforgettable. OTTOLINE GOES TO SCHOOL is a great addition to this new series; its blend of whodunit and magic are sure to draw in curious young readers.
--- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman
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