The Jolly Regina (Unintentinal Adventures of the Bland Sisters Series #1)

by Kara LaReau, Jen Hill (Illustrator)

Overview

In the spirit of A Series of Unfortunate Events and the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series, The Unintentional Adventures of the Bland Sisters will captivate middle-grade readers looking for humor, hijinks, and a swashbuckling good time. Meet Jaundice and Kale Bland, two sisters who avoid excitement at any cost. Together, they patiently await the return of their parents, who left on an errand years ago and have never returned.

One day, the Bland sisters are kidnapped by an all-female band of pirates. They’re unwillingly swept into a high-seas romp that might just lead to solving the mystery of what happened to their parents. With whimsical illustrations and Roald Dahl–esque wit, The Unintentional Adventures of the Bland Sisters is the visually stunning, laugh-out-loud funny start to a new series for readers who are looking for an anything-but-bland adventure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419721366
Publisher:	Amulet Books
Publication date:	01/10/2017
Series:	Unintentinal Adventures of the Bland Sisters Series , #1
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Kara LaReau was an editor at Candlewick Press prior to becoming a full-time writer. She has published many acclaimed picture books for children including Ugly Fish, Rabbit & Squirrel, and Otto: The Boy Who Loved Cars. Kara lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with her husband and son and their two cats.

Editorial Reviews

10/17/2016
Kale and Jaundice Bland, twin sisters who live in the town of Dullsville, are quite content with their lives darning socks, eating plain oatmeal, and reading the dictionary for fun. They aren’t even concerned about their parents, who left to run an errand several years earlier and never returned. After the girls are kidnapped by Deadeye Delilah, captain of a band of all-female pirates, they are thrust into an adventure that involves their missing parents, questionable stews, and Deadeye Delilah’s nemesis, Captain Ann Tennille. Deadpan dialogue helps the sisters live up to their surname (“I hope they have some salve on hand, wherever we’re going,” notes Kale, as the girls are hauled off in a chafe-inducing burlap sack), but there’s no shortage of the kind of “Serious, Life-Threatening Peril” that the twins typically avoid. Filled with puns, intrigue, and ample evidence that women make excellent—and ruthless—pirates, it’s a promising introduction to the Unintentional Adventures of the Bland Sisters series. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8–12. Author’s agent: Barry Goldblatt, Barry Goldblatt Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Anne Moore Armstrong, Bright Agency. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"With dry humor and a touch of snark, this first book of a new series is a smart choice for readers who have mastered Bink & Gollie but aren't quite ready for Lemony Snicket."

School Library Connection

"Plenty of references to booty and poop decks make for easy humor, while more subtle comedy comes from the deadpan third-person narration."

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Replete with puns, gags, and life lessons, this transgressive voyage may “ketch” fans of envelope pushers like Barry Yourgrau, Alan Katz, or Roald Dahl."

Booklist

"Replete with puns, gags, and life lessons, this transgressive voyage may “ketch” fans of envelope pushers like Barry Yourgrau, Alan Katz, or Roald Dahl."

Booklist

2016-09-19
When two dull-as-dishwater sisters suddenly find themselves working for female pirates, their days of boredom come sadly to an end. Jaundice and Kale Bland haven’t seen their parents in years, but that’s OK. They’ve kept to themselves and have a lucrative business darning socks. Life is boring, and that’s fine with them. That is, until a pirate named Deadeye Delilah kidnaps the two and forces them into working for her all-women crew on the high seas. Delilah’s in search of a particular cache of treasure, and she’s convinced the girls hold the secret to its recovery. Together the two must use their limited skills to escape certain death and find out what happened to their parents so long ago. There’s a smidgen of Snicket in the works here, but only a pinch. Generally LaReau serves her humor dry, adding some serious swashbuckling for good measure. Sailing right over children’s heads will be jokes like the search for Capt. Ann Tennille, the all-male rival pirate ship the Testostero, or the tattooed pirate Princess Kwee-Kweg. Meanwhile Hill’s pen-and-ink cartoons give the book precisely the right strange and silly tone to help sustain what easily could have become a one-joke wonder. She gives Jaundice and Kale slightly darker skin than Deadeye Delilah, whose crew is a multiethnic one. “To shanghai” and “charming” don’t usually go together, but here they do. (Adventure. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews

12/01/2017
Gr 4–6—The Bland sisters, Kale and Jaundice, live up to their surname. Their idea of fun is reading the dictionary while they await the return of their long-missing but quite adventurous parents. Their quiet life is interrupted when the girls are kidnapped and pressed into service by pirate Deadeye Delilah, head of an all-female crew. Delilah and her henchwomen are on a quest to find Captain Ann Tennille's treasure and defeat rivals, including the all-male crew of pirates on the Testosterone. Actress Rosalyn Landor adeptly reads the slyly humorous adventure. The pacing is pitch perfect to effectively complement the delightful, slightly offbeat characterizations. All's well that ends well, and so the Bland sisters wind up back at home with a renewed interest in further adventures. VERDICT This lively reading will delight a range of listeners and is quite likely to encourage closer examination of words in the car or in a classroom.—Maria Salvadore, Washington, DC

School Library Journal