From Publishers Weekly
Waugh's second book is just as good as The Mennyms, and maybe even better-her characters, outsize rag dolls who have come to life, are a lot more believable than many fictional human families. Everything goes wrong at Brocklehurst Grove when the Mennyms once again receive a letter from Albert Pond (the real one, not the mystical Australian whose letter caused such trouble in the first book). Albert-an orphaned, ineffectual-seeming university lecturer-has been made aware (by the ghost of Aunt Kate, the Mennyms' creator and Albert's own great-great-aunt) of the town council's fiendish plans to raze the family home and to "drive a motorway right through the house." In order to shield the Mennyms from curious human eyes, Albert takes them to a gloomy, isolated country house. Though they pine for Brocklehurst Grove, the Mennyms' new life is not without its adventures. A hilariously suspenseful episode in which Soobie, the blue Mennym, is held prisoner by a gang of boys who want him for their Guy Fawkes' Day bonfire allows Waugh to explore the relationship between dolls and humans with her own blend of delicious whimsy and rigorous logic. An odd, enchanting and thoroughly satisfying fantasy. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-8?The Mennyms (Greenwillow, 1994) have returned with a similar dilemma to that of Mary Norton's miniature folk, The Borrowers (Harcourt, 1953): they must leave their familiar and comfortable home. The family of rag dolls, mysteriously given life and personalities by their creator, the deceased Kate Penshaw, has lived peaceably for 40 years in Kate's home in Brocklehurst Grove. Now the Mennyms are being threatened by a proposed motorway that may take their house and others in the Grove. This crisis prompts Kate's ghost to appear to her great-nephew, Albert Pond, asking him to intervene on their behalf. The dolls' contact with humans has been, of necessity, limited; Albert is incredulous, but willing. What ensues is a totally believable series of events in which the man transports them to a country mansion that has long been vacant but is still in his family. Each of the Mennyms reacts to the move differently, and that is the strength of Waugh's writing?the characterizations are exceptionally vivid and true. Plotting is stronger and faster paced than in the first book, and children will enjoy the excitement of motorbike rides and a kidnapping as well as the family's dilemma, which is resolved in the end. A great read-aloud choice.?Connie C. Rockman, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
