Island of the Aunts

This is one of three books previously sold as a trilogy, although each story stands alone. In Island..., two sisters who are nearing elderly status live on an island that is mostly protected by magic, so that ships pass by without ever seeing it. Protection is for the assortment of creatures the "Aunts" care for; some of the creatures are quite exotic, and all have come to the island after having been injured or made sick by ocean pollution, harpoons, and other dangers they have encountered.The Kraken makes the rounds throughout all of the earth's seas, a journey that routinely takes three years. Of course, the Aunts have always hoped that the Kraken would bless them with a visit, a hope they learned from their very elderly and sick father, who lives with them. But the Aunts are too old to care for all of the creatures and for the island, by themselves, anymore; they have two other sisters, but one moved away long ago and chooses to ignore her past and her family. The other helps as she can, but she is the more "spiritual" and less practical of the three. So they all decide they will have to acquire children to help them with the more difficult work. This involves a trip to the mainland and finding what they hope will be just the right children. Each is to locate and bring back, preferably without force, one child each. Well, two out of three isn't too bad, right? The story of how they find the children and get them back to the island; how the children adapt--or don't; and what endangers the lives of all of the inhabitants, all adds up to a very enjoyable book. And not only for children.

Before I review the book, I wanted to comment on something. As you may have read from other reviewers, this book is identical in text/content to another book called "Monster Mission" from the same author. Please don't blame the author for this, as the problem lies with two different publishers both owning rights to print the book. (Puffin, and Macmillan) The book by one publisher has a different title and different cover art but it is the same book, word for word. This happened to another Ibbotson book "The Haunting of Hiram C. Hopgood" and "The Haunting of Granite Falls", are identical as well. To make it more confusing, I bought a book before these US releases, "The Haunting of Hiram" in Canada, and it is also the same book with yet another cover and title.As long as you know BEFORE you buy, it's OK since you can pick which cover art you prefer. I happen to like the Macmillan cover more than the Puffin cover on both books myself, but at least I could choose. The down side of all this, is that I think that buyers are hesitant to rush to buy a new Ibbotson book until they learn more about is, as they are afraid it may duplicate a book they have. This gets harder when you are buying for someone else.Now, the book that is for sale on this page "Island of the Aunts", is a great story. It is about three aunts that live on a magical island, whose mission is to care for the magic and mythical creatures of the world, mending them when they are hurt and that sort of thing. As they are getting up in years, they decide they need someone to take their place and it will take some time to train them. They know that it must be children, as they could understand the magic better and believe what they are seeing. So these kind gentle souls decide the best way to get them to the island is to kidnap them! They travel to London to take their time studying different kids to find those that have the right tempemperment and the best chance of success... they need good kind-hearted, smart kids. They find some but, also accidentaly steal another kid who is a beastly mean brat. To make matters worse a ship has arrived to pollute the island and exploit the creatures. This story is sweet and hilarious, dripping with suspense, full of imagination and memorable characters.

Island of the Aunts is an exciting romp on an island filled with magical, mythical creatures. When the aunts decide to kidnap some help to take care of the island and its inhabitants, they turn to London and snatch some children to help them. The children come from disinterested parents anyway, and grow to love the island and the animals they care for.My nine year old daughter and I read this book and enjoyed the quirky characters of this well written children's book. The story has lots of action as well as mermaids, kraken - a lochness type monster who hums and curbs destruction to the sea, Selkies, Boobrie Birds and many other wonderful creatures.The island becomes a catalyst for adventure when the police, one father and his thugs who want to kidnap all the creatures for profit, converge on the island - and the children and the aunts want to defend and protect all of the inhabitants.One of our favorite characters was the Kraken who's hum changes the hearts of those who do damage to the sea. He brings his son to the island to be raised by the children who fall in love with the little guy.We highly recommend this book filled with magic and excitement. Good clean fun with lots of imagination and inspiring characters!

On of my most favorite books, I actually know the illustrator. I was very disappointed that the book arrived with a different cover picture than the one shown, by a completely different artist. This was not mentioned anywhere in the book description, and the illustration that is on the cover is rather frightening and gross looking. The book was in good condition and arrived on time, but looks NOTHING like what the picture shows.

My daughter is nine and luckily for me still enjoys being read to at night. Eva Ibbotson is a wonderful writer who will in the future become one of the best loved writers of children's literature for sure. This book is on a par with Journey to the River Sea and demonstrates the authors’ ability to reach out and engage with the imaginations of the children she is writing for. Her storylines are always engaging; at one moment my child is aghast at the possibility of disaster and in the next sighing with relief as disaster is averted.In this book I will never forget the joy of my daughter suddenly shouting "he has a ###!" out loud as I read to her. Superb.

Brilliant book. But beware - the same story is also published with different title - Monster Mission. So, we ended up ordering two books - because we love Eva Ibbotson so much. This version has great illustrations.

Great

Eva Ibbotson is the queen!