A review by shighley
Horton Halfpott: Or, the Fiendish Mystery of Smugwick Manor; Or, the Loosening of m'Lady Luggertuck's Corset by Tom Angleberger

4.0

This book is very, very clever. For one reason or another, I started it, but had to put it aside for a bit. When I started it again, I had forgotten some of the plot, so I basically re-read much of it, and I didn't mind at all (and I rarely re-read anything). From the very beginning when Angleberger dedicated the book to John Christopher, an author whose works my son really enjoyed when it was hard to encourage reading, to the cute drawings, to the cute asides, it is very well done. There is so much tongue-in-cheek humor that might be too sophisticated for some of my students, but it's just plain fun. There were many great passages that would be fun to quote, but I couldn't narrow it down. I could picture this as a movie, with Blight and Blemish as proper, comic relief (which I grew to appreciate as I read on). The fact that Celia cast aspersions at suitors who hadn't even read last year's books (but how did she know Horton could read?) and that Horton bonded with the Lord over reading were an added plus. And how did Neversly know that Horton would know how to retrieve the ugly spoon? Oh, well, that really doesn't matter. This could make a very fun read aloud as well, as well as an introduction to farce.