From Publishers Weekly
This marvelously funny novel brings together as zany a collection of characters as one could hope for: Heathcliff Warlock, a most unconventional deputy headmaster; Sir Quincey Judd-Sprockett, a nefarious and inept inventor; Belladonna Doppler, whom Sir Quincey has firmly in his sights; and assorted villains, cats and children. The setting is the Unexpected School, where anything might happen--and does. Mahy begins by placing in motion a number of seemingly unrelated subplots. By the end, they have been imaginatively and hilariously intertwined through the meeting, scheming and comic misunderstandings of all concerned. Smith's jaunty pen-and-ink spot drawings add visual verve to this manic mix. Ages 9-12.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
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
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
