Love Among the Walnuts

by Jean Ferris

Overview

Sandy Huntington-Ackerman's life becomes increasingly complicated when his bungling, moneygrubbing uncles try to shanghai the family fortune by poisoning a birthday cake. Luckily, those conniving uncles prove yet again that they can't do anything right. Instead of bumping off the whole family, they put Sandy's mom and dad and their pet chicken into mysterious comas. Sandy joins forces with his loyal butler and a wise and wacky nurse to save his parents and squelch his uncles' felonious high jinks.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780152062279
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/01/2008
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	228
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.50(h) x (d)
Lexile:	890L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 12 Years

About the Author

JEAN FERRIS has written more than a dozen novels for young people, including the popular Marigold trilogy. Once Upon a Marigold was named an ALA Notable Children's Book, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, and a New York Public Library 100 Books for Reading and Sharing title. Ms. Ferris lives in San Diego, California. Visit her website at www.jeanferris.com.

Editorial Reviews

"Dripping with charm."—VOYA "Lots of silly fun and a warm, feel-good feeling await readers."—School Library Journal (starred review) "An unconventional style and offbeat sense of humor that will delight readers."—Kirkus Reviews —

From the Publisher

Resembling a Frank Capra or Preston Sturges movie in plot and tone, this fabulistic story from Ferris has an unconventional style and offbeat sense of humor that will delight readers or exhaust them, depending on their tolerance for screwball comedies. Wealthy Horatio Alger Huntington-Ackerman's two money-hungry brothers poison his birthday cake, with the intention of wiping out his entire family so they can inherit the riches. Instead, Horatio, wife Mousey, the butler Bentley's wife, Flossie, and a pet chicken end up in comas. Horatio's son Sandy and Bentley set out to nail the evil duo, and to revive their loved ones; the plot thickens when Sandy meets Sunny, a chatty nurse and love-interest, and they interact with his neighbors—the "inmates" of Walnut Manor, a home for the "distressed." A financial subplot and a muddle of characters, defined by their eccentricities, clog the pacing of this throwback, but when the various subplots converge and the happy endings commence, the wrap-up is resounding. (Fiction. 12-14)

Kirkus Reviews