The Hidden Gallery (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place Series #2)

( 31 )

Overview

Of especially naughty children it is sometimes said, "They must have been raised by wolves."

The Incorrigible children actually were.

Thanks to the efforts of Miss Penelope Lumley, their plucky governess, Alexander, Beowulf, and Cassiopeia are much more like children than wolf pups now. They are accustomed to wearing clothes. They hardly ever howl at the moon. And for the most part, they resist the urge to ...

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The Hidden Gallery (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place Series #2)

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More About This Book

Overview

Of especially naughty children it is sometimes said, "They must have been raised by wolves."

The Incorrigible children actually were.

Thanks to the efforts of Miss Penelope Lumley, their plucky governess, Alexander, Beowulf, and Cassiopeia are much more like children than wolf pups now. They are accustomed to wearing clothes. They hardly ever howl at the moon. And for the most part, they resist the urge to chase squirrels up trees.

Despite Penelope's civilizing influence, the Incorrigibles still managed to ruin Lady Constance's Christmas ball, nearly destroying the grand house. So while Ashton Place is being restored, Penelope, the Ashtons, and the children take up residence in London. Penelope is thrilled, as London offers so many opportunities to further the education of her unique students. But the city presents challenges, too, in the form of the palace guards' bearskin hats, which drive the children wild—not to mention the abundance of pigeons the Incorrigibles love to hunt. As they explore London, however, they discover more about themselves as clues about the children's—and Penelope's—mysterious past crop up in the most unexpected ways. . . .

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Editorial Reviews

Children's Literature - Heidi Hauser Green
When repairs to Ashton Place take longer than planned, Lady Constance decides to move the entire household to London. Miss Penelope Lumley, governess to the Ashton's three young wards (Alexander, Beowulf and Cassiopeia), is excited by the change of scenery. She is eager to make use of the city's wealth of educational opportunities—museums, theaters, historical sites—and to visit with Miss Mortimer, her former headmistress at the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females. However, the governess and her charges face many challenges in London, from navigating the city streets to fending off a pickpocket, dealing with Lady Ashton's social pressures to confronting an unusual Gypsy fortune teller, keeping the children from attacking the palace guards' bear hats to distracting them from the city's many pigeons. Sure to remind the reader of Lemony Snicket's series, the Harry Potter novels, and N.E. Bode's The Anybodies, this unusual tale—with its Victorian setting, governess and boarding school elements, references to mythology and horror creatures, and authorial digressions—is sure to capture readers' imagination. Expect the unexpected from this fifteen-year-old governess and her once-feral charges, and you won't be disappointed. Book two of "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place" series, sequel to The Mysterious Howling. Reviewer: Heidi Hauser Green
Julie Just
Plot twists out of Charlotte Bronte or Arthur Conan Doyle keep the action absorbing even while the narration is thoroughly tongue-in-cheek.
—The New York Times
Publishers Weekly
In this humorous kickoff to the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series, Wood (My Life: The Musical) injects new life into the governess theme by charging genteel 15-year-old Penelope Lumley (educated at the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females) with three wild children—Alexander, Beowulf, and Cassiopeia—who were raised in the woods and taken into the “care” of Lord Frederic Ashton and his selfish, superficial bride (the children are living in a barn when Penelope arrives). With a Snicketesque affect, Wood's narrative propels the drama; Penelope is a standout, often invoking the truisms of her school's founder (“The best way to find out how fast a horse can run is to smack it on the rump”) while caring for the Incorrigibles—named such so they won't be presumed Ashton's heirs. Despite the slapstick situations involving the children's disheveled appearance, pack behavior, and lack of language, the real barbarism comes from the Ashtons and a society that eagerly anticipates their failure. Though the novel ends a bit abruptly, the pervasive humor and unanswered questions should have readers begging for more. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8–12. (Feb.)
Kirkus Reviews
Fresh from the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, 15-year-old Penelope Lumley reports to remote but palatial Ashton Place and discovers just why the advertisement for a governess indicated a strong preference for "Experience with Animals." The three young children are not the offspring of disdainful newlywed Lady Ashton but were recently found in the forest, raised (apparently) by wolves. Lacking magical props but in every other respect a Mary Poppins in the bud, Miss Lumley quickly gets the wild but winning trio out of the barn and into the nursery, washed, properly dressed and-thanks to a savvy strategy of "careful demonstration, a great deal of repetition, and the occasional use of tasty treats"-on the road to civilized behavior. Tongue so forcibly in cheek that medical intervention may be required, Wood plunges her inexperienced but resourceful heroine into an unusually challenging domestic situation, winds the plot up and closes with an aftermath laced with tantalizing hints that All Is Not As It Seems. It's the best beginning since The Bad Beginning (1999) and will leave readers howling for the next episode. (High melodrama. 10-12)
Children's Literature - Joyce Rice
In the tradition of Lemony Snicket's Baudelaire children, who live in a time and place where children are ignored and mistreated, villains lurk around every corner and teamwork proves to be a truly favorable trait, the Incorrigible Children enter the literary world. Three unidentified children have been discovered living in the woods within the vast grounds of Ashton Place. Upon their discovery and "capture," the Lord of this vast estate and his young bride engage a governess. Miss Lumley is a recent graduate of the Swanburne School for Poor Bright Females, and she is fully prepared to accept the challenge of teaching these children to behave in this very social world. The children, named Alexander, Beowulf and Cassiopeia by their discoverer, struggle to learn to speak and to display perfect manners. They are constantly watched by the senior gardener and the housekeeper. The fifteen-year-old governess uses all of her training to prepare these children for their public appearance at the estate's Christmas Ball, as demanded by Lord Frederick and Lady Constance. However, unknown sources are at work to undermine all of Miss Lumley's efforts and create chaos at the great Christmas Ball. Unexpected events at the Ball will cause Lady Constance to question her own control of her household and will bring new respect for Miss Lumley. This is Book 1 of a promised series about the "Incorrigible Children at Ashton Place." It will be an excellent series addition to middle school media centers and reading curriculums. Reviewer: Joyce Rice
School Library Journal
Gr 5–8—Jane Eyre meets Lemony Snicket in this smart, surprising satire of a 19th-century English governess story. A witty omniscient narrator speaks directly to modern readers and follows 15-year-old Penelope, recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, to British country manor Ashton Place, where conniving Lord Fredrick has discovered three wild children apparently raised by wolves while hunting in his vast forest property. To Lord Fredrick, who's named them Alexander, Beowulf, and Cassiopeia Incorrigible, the children are trophies and property ("Finder's keepers, what?"); to young Lady Constance they're savage nuisances who howl, chase squirrels, and gnaw on shoes. Enter Penelope Lumley, charged with taming them in time for a Christmas party, and bolstered by her top-notch classical education and an endless supply of platitudes from Agatha Swanburne. She also comes armed with a cherished book of poetry and her favorite fiction series, "Giddy-Yap, Rainbow!" There are stock characters, and there are mysteries. Most of all, without taking itself too seriously, there is commentary on writing itself, the dangers and the benefits of relying on books for moral courage, and the perils of drawing false expectations of the world from literature. Penelope shows growth, confronting issues of social class and expectation versus reality, and eventually realizing her own capacity for insight. Humorous antics and a climactic cliff-hanger ending will keep children turning pages and clamoring for the next volume, while more sophisticated readers will take away much more. Frequent plate-sized illustrations add wit and period flair.—Riva Pollard, Prospect Sierra Middle School, El Cerrito, CA
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Product Details

Meet the Author

Maryrose Wood

Maryrose Wood is the author of The Mysterious Howling and The Hidden Gallery, the first two books in this continuing series about the Incorrigible children and their governess. These books may be considered works of fiction, which is to say, the true bits and the untrue bits are so thoroughly mixed together that no one should be able to tell the difference. This process of fabrication is fully permitted under the terms of the author's Poetic License, which is one of her most prized possessions.

Maryrose's other qualifications for writing these tales include a scandalous stint as a professional thespian, many years as a private governess to two curious and occasionally rambunctious pupils, and whatever literary insights she may have gleaned from living in close proximity to a clever but disobedient dog.

Jon Klassen grew up in Niagara Falls, Canada, and now lives in Los Angeles, California. He is the author and illustrator of I Want My Hat Back, as well as the illustrator of Cats’ Night Out by Caroline Stutson, Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, and the other books in the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series. He also created concept art for Coraline, the stop-motion animated film based on the book by Neil Gaiman.

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Read an Excerpt

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place
Book I: The Mysterious Howling

The Second Chapter

Penelope and Lady Constance converse to the accompaniment of strange noises.

If you have ever visited a theme park full of roller coasters, water slides, and thrilling games of chance, you were undoubtedly tickled half to death by it all. But then, just when it seemed the excitement had reached a fever pitch from which you might never recover, the tedious ordeal of waiting in a long line for the bathroom may have suddenly made you so bored that you wished you were home in bed with the flu.

So it was with Penelope. Despite the two days of anxious travel she had just endured and the important job interview that awaited her, as she sat there trapped in the carriage seat next to a coachman who had decided not to talk, Penelope grew excruciatingly bored. She decided it would be rude to glance at her poetry book.

"I shall have to resort to the scenery to keep me occupied," she thought, turning her mind to the task. They were now passing through stately woods. Dutifully she admired the golden-tipped canopy of leaves and observed how the sunlight could penetrate only here and there, dappling a lush undergrowth of ferns. Some of these she could identify even from a distance: Hart's-tongue ferns, cinnamon ferns, and some with attractive crinkled edges she thought were called corrugated ferns or, if they weren't, ought to be. Penelope had once attended a lecture at Swanburne given by the deputy vice president of the Heathcote Amateur Pteridological Society, and considered herself quite knowledgeable about ferns as a result.

Then she imagined the trees as they would soon look in the full blaze of autumn color...and then afterward, in winter, as a field of bare-branched giants standing on a blanket of white. It made her wonder (although not aloud), "And where will I be come Christmas? If all goes well, I will live here at Ashton Place, a strict but kind-hearted governess with three clever pupils who both fear and adore me."

Penelope had read several novels about such governesses in preparation for her interview and found them chock-full of useful information, although she had no intention of developing romantic feelings for the charming, penniless tutor at a neighboring estate. Or...heaven forbid!...for the darkly handsome, brooding, and extravagantly wealthy master of her own household. Lord Fredrick Ashton was newly married in any case, and she had no inkling what his complexion might be.

"Or perhaps I will mumble my way through my interview like a dimwit and be sent home again in shame," she fretted. "Though, alas! There is no home for me to return to!"

At which point the carriage hit a pothole and flew thirteen-and-one-half inches into the air before crashing down again. The driver took this opportunity to break his silence with the brief and heartfelt outburst mentioned earlier, but it is not necessary to reprint his exact words. Fortunately, Penelope was unfamiliar with the expression he used and was, therefore, none the worse for hearing it.

However, she took the interruption as a reminder that wallowing in self-pity, even in the privacy of her own mind, was not the Swanburne way. Instead, she cheered herself with the idea that she might soon have three pupils of her own to teach, to mold, and to imbue with the sterling values she felt so fortunate to have acquired at school. If each child came equipped with a pony, so much the better!

And then, abruptly, they were out of the trees and coming over the crest of a hill, passing between great stone pillars that framed a tall and forbidding black iron gate.

Once through the gate, she could finally see before her the house known as Ashton Place.

The coachman was right: Ashton Place was a very grand house indeed. It was perfectly situated in the sheltered lowland ahead and big as a palace, with the lovely symmetrical proportions of the ancient Greek architecture Penelope had so often admired in her history books at Swanburne.

From the hilltop vantage of the gate Penelope could see that the surrounding property numbered not in the hundreds, nor the thousands, but in the tens of thousands of acres...in fact, the forest she had just passed through was part of the estate. There were orchards and farms and groups of other, much smaller houses as well. These were the cottages in which the servants lived, and where the blacksmith, tinsmith, and tanner plied their trades. There was even a smokehouse for the curing of fresh bacon, ham, sausage, and all sorts of meat-based delicacies that would nowadays be purchased in a supermarket, uninterestingly wrapped in plastic.

And Penelope noted with delight: There was a barn big enough to house a whole herd of ponies, with their long, lovingly brushed tails and red ribbons braided prettily through their manes...oh, how Penelope wished the job were already hers! But the interview was still ahead, and she resolved to keep her wits about her.

The driveway approaching the main entrance curved around formal gardens of great beauty, now tinged with the first brushstrokes of autumn color. The coachman brought the carriage straight to the front of the house and assisted his passenger brusquely to the ground. A kind-faced, square-built woman of middle age was waiting to greet the new arrival.

"Miss Lumley, I presume?"

Penelope nodded.

"I'm Mrs. Clarke, the head housekeeper. Thank goodness you've arrived! Lady Constance has been asking for you every quarter hour the whole blessed day. Don't make such a stricken face, dear. You're not late. Lady Constance tends to be impatient, that's all it is. But look at you...you're hardly more than a child yourself! Jasper, see to her bag, please!"

The carpetbag was whisked inside by a young man who appeared from nowhere. As for the trunk of books, which the coachman was struggling to lift..."Leave that in the carriage for now," Mrs. Clarke directed. She jangled the large ring of keys she wore at her waist and gave Penelope an appraising look. "Until we see how things go."

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place
Book I: The Mysterious Howling. Copyright © by Maryrose Wood. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.
Read More Show Less

First Chapter

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place
Book I: The Mysterious Howling

The Second Chapter

Penelope and Lady Constance converse to the accompaniment of strange noises.

If you have ever visited a theme park full of roller coasters, water slides, and thrilling games of chance, you were undoubtedly tickled half to death by it all. But then, just when it seemed the excitement had reached a fever pitch from which you might never recover, the tedious ordeal of waiting in a long line for the bathroom may have suddenly made you so bored that you wished you were home in bed with the flu.

So it was with Penelope. Despite the two days of anxious travel she had just endured and the important job interview that awaited her, as she sat there trapped in the carriage seat next to a coachman who had decided not to talk, Penelope grew excruciatingly bored. She decided it would be rude to glance at her poetry book.

"I shall have to resort to the scenery to keep me occupied," she thought, turning her mind to the task. They were now passing through stately woods. Dutifully she admired the golden-tipped canopy of leaves and observed how the sunlight could penetrate only here and there, dappling a lush undergrowth of ferns. Some of these she could identify even from a distance: Hart's-tongue ferns, cinnamon ferns, and some with attractive crinkled edges she thought were called corrugated ferns or, if they weren't, ought to be. Penelope had once attended a lecture at Swanburne given by the deputy vice president of the Heathcote Amateur Pteridological Society, and considered herself quite knowledgeable about ferns as a result.

Then she imagined the trees as they would soon look in the full blaze of autumn color—and then afterward, in winter, as a field of bare-branched giants standing on a blanket of white. It made her wonder (although not aloud), "And where will I be come Christmas? If all goes well, I will live here at Ashton Place, a strict but kind-hearted governess with three clever pupils who both fear and adore me."

Penelope had read several novels about such governesses in preparation for her interview and found them chock-full of useful information, although she had no intention of developing romantic feelings for the charming, penniless tutor at a neighboring estate. Or—heaven forbid!—for the darkly handsome, brooding, and extravagantly wealthy master of her own household. Lord Fredrick Ashton was newly married in any case, and she had no inkling what his complexion might be.

"Or perhaps I will mumble my way through my interview like a dimwit and be sent home again in shame," she fretted. "Though, alas! There is no home for me to return to!"

At which point the carriage hit a pothole and flew thirteen-and-one-half inches into the air before crashing down again. The driver took this opportunity to break his silence with the brief and heartfelt outburst mentioned earlier, but it is not necessary to reprint his exact words. Fortunately, Penelope was unfamiliar with the expression he used and was, therefore, none the worse for hearing it.

However, she took the interruption as a reminder that wallowing in self-pity, even in the privacy of her own mind, was not the Swanburne way. Instead, she cheered herself with the idea that she might soon have three pupils of her own to teach, to mold, and to imbue with the sterling values she felt so fortunate to have acquired at school. If each child came equipped with a pony, so much the better!

And then, abruptly, they were out of the trees and coming over the crest of a hill, passing between great stone pillars that framed a tall and forbidding black iron gate.

Once through the gate, she could finally see before her the house known as Ashton Place.

The coachman was right: Ashton Place was a very grand house indeed. It was perfectly situated in the sheltered lowland ahead and big as a palace, with the lovely symmetrical proportions of the ancient Greek architecture Penelope had so often admired in her history books at Swanburne.

From the hilltop vantage of the gate Penelope could see that the surrounding property numbered not in the hundreds, nor the thousands, but in the tens of thousands of acres—in fact, the forest she had just passed through was part of the estate. There were orchards and farms and groups of other, much smaller houses as well. These were the cottages in which the servants lived, and where the blacksmith, tinsmith, and tanner plied their trades. There was even a smokehouse for the curing of fresh bacon, ham, sausage, and all sorts of meat-based delicacies that would nowadays be purchased in a supermarket, uninterestingly wrapped in plastic.

And Penelope noted with delight: There was a barn big enough to house a whole herd of ponies, with their long, lovingly brushed tails and red ribbons braided prettily through their manes—oh, how Penelope wished the job were already hers! But the interview was still ahead, and she resolved to keep her wits about her.

The driveway approaching the main entrance curved around formal gardens of great beauty, now tinged with the first brushstrokes of autumn color. The coachman brought the carriage straight to the front of the house and assisted his passenger brusquely to the ground. A kind-faced, square-built woman of middle age was waiting to greet the new arrival.

"Miss Lumley, I presume?"

Penelope nodded.

"I'm Mrs. Clarke, the head housekeeper. Thank goodness you've arrived! Lady Constance has been asking for you every quarter hour the whole blessed day. Don't make such a stricken face, dear. You're not late. Lady Constance tends to be impatient, that's all it is. But look at you—you're hardly more than a child yourself! Jasper, see to her bag, please!"

The carpetbag was whisked inside by a young man who appeared from nowhere. As for the trunk of books, which the coachman was struggling to lift—"Leave that in the carriage for now," Mrs. Clarke directed. She jangled the large ring of keys she wore at her waist and gave Penelope an appraising look. "Until we see how things go."

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place
Book I: The Mysterious Howling. Copyright © by Maryrose Wood. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.
Read More Show Less

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 31 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(19)

4 Star

(10)

3 Star

(2)

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 31 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted May 8, 2013

    G

    It is a sequel to the first book

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted April 15, 2013

    Should I buy this ???

    I have already read the first book! I really want to read the next book so that I can learn more about Penelope and the three children's life! I really want to know who it is living in the wall. Is it a wolf? A cat?

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 14, 2013

    This is the sequil

    :)

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted February 13, 2013

    ? I have a question!

    Is this a sequel to the 1st book?? Please tell me if it is!!!!!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 20, 2013

    Best book ever!!!!!

    when i read the first i knew i just had to buy the 2nd one. I totally give this a A++++

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 12, 2012

    OMG

    This wad an amazing book it has alot of detail and agreat plot. Compliments to Maryrose Wood and Jon Klassen for a wonderful book and pictures.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 20, 2012

    Rocks!

    This book is awesome!!!!!!!!!!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 6, 2012

    A great adition to a series

    I love how the kids have progressed from the first book and what a vacation!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 1, 2012

    Awesome

    A+

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 26, 2012

    Great conti Wonderful!

    Fantastic

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 2, 2012

    Enticing Story

    Slow at first, but then the book speeds up. If you get bored do not stop reading! Great new characters too.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 29, 2011

    Great Series, fun to read!

    This book is worth every penny that you pay! So wonderfully written with a great amount of "wow" moments! Great bok!

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  • Posted October 21, 2011

    Delightful

    I've thoroughly enjoyed the first two in the series.The language is well chosen and expressions explained. We received it as a gift for my six year old son. He was bored with the early chapters of the first book and Iam glad, because as an adopted child he might have found th rest of the book rather terrfying.

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  • Posted July 24, 2011

    AWESOME BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Awsome book! I read them all and loved tthem! Hope athor writes more.

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  • Posted June 22, 2011

    more from this reviewer

    Hilarious Middle Grade

    Charming, hilarious, and full of page turning fun, Maryrose Wood's The Hidden Gallery is middle grade fiction at its finest.

    The Hidden Gallery opens up just as Miss Penelope Lumley, governess to the three "wolf cubs" Alexander, Beowulf, and Cassiopeia, learns that they as well as the Ashtons will be making a trip to London. Even though this trip is due to serious repairs the house is under because of the children, Penelope is nothing short of excited. She is looking forward to not only visiting London and seeing her old governess, but getting away from the troubles that have seem to follow her and the children lately. However, after a mysterious, haunting warning, Penelope, Alexander, Beowulf, and Cassiopeia are left on a wild goose chase, which involves meeting new people, mysterious fortunetellers, and hidden galleries. Will everything turn out okay in the end? Will Penelope's as wells as the children's true origins ever come into play? Only time and more pages can tell in this exciting adventure!

    First, the characters in The Hidden Gallery were nothing short of the funny lovable ones readers hope to find in books. Penelope was savvy, smart, and likable, and I always loved her, as well as Agatha Swanburne's, random spurts of wisdom thrown in. On the other hand, the children were lively and chaotic little things that nearly always managed to still the spotlight with their interesting appearances. The other characters in this managed to be the same, because from the spoiled Lady Ashton to the other unique staff, I was continually chuckling due to their dialogue and actions.

    The plot of this was another high point. One thing I always love about middle grade fiction is the fact that there is also a lot of action and fun, and Maryrose had ample amounts of both in The Hidden Gallery. I was repeatedly flipping the pages, dying to know what would happen next. Would Penelope and the children ever find out the truth behind the mysterious occurrences? Better yet, what about their backgrounds- did they have something to do with it? There was not a moment where I was not completely immersed in the story.

    Wood's writing was also great! I loved how she never once dumbed the story, instead presented a complex story filled with intricate yet necessary details and backstory that I am sure children, teens, and may even adults will enjoy. The only thing I would have liked more of was character development, but as there are more books to come in the series, I am sure the characters will have plenty of room to develop.

    In all, if you read one middle grade book this year, let it be Maryrose Wood's The Hidden Gallery. Full of twists and turns to keep nearly any reader happy, I am sure it will become a fan favorite. Especially for fans of Stephanie Burgis' Kat, Incorrigible and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events series. I can only hope the next addiction will be as good.

    Grade: A+

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  • Posted May 21, 2011

    Good book

    The book was a great read and went well with the first book! I can't wait for the next book!

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  • Posted March 12, 2011

    Amazing!

    I loved the book! hopefully the author will write more!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 16, 2012

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted April 8, 2012

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 7, 2012

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