Product Description

Colossal Adventures in a miniature world

Measle Stubbs lives with Basil Tramplebone, his dreary, horrible guardian. His life is miserable, and gets worse when Measle finds himself on the wrong end of one of Basil's evil spells. Now he's half an inch tall and trapped in a toy train set. But when Measle joins up with Basil's other victims, he becomes more than just a smelly little orphan. Suddenly he's a hero ... with a plan!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #518121 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 210 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6–Measle Stubbs lives in a vile house with his hateful guardian, Basil Tramplebone. Basil, who is a "Wrathmonk," a warlock gone mad, has one pleasure, his amazingly elaborate model train set, and one day he reduces Measle to a tiny size and sets him down within it. Before long, Measle discovers six other small humans and a dog, and together they must figure out how to survive in a hostile environment where the only food (donut crumbs left by Basil) will turn them slowly into plastic, avoid the hungry bat that stalks them, and find a way to vanquish Basil. This is a fine premise, but the farfetched methods through which the companions accomplish these goals are forced and unsatisfying. Why do carrots provide an antidote to the magic donuts? Could a half-inch-tall boy really outrun a four-inch-long cockroach? The characters are one-dimensional and uninteresting, and some of them seem to have been created solely for their necessary abilities. Good triumphs over evil, the tiny people are returned to their normal size, and Measle even gets his long-lost parents back, but the tone remains muted to the end.–Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Gr. 3-7. Ten-year-old Measle Stubbs is a scrappy orphan who lives with horrible, sinister guardian Basil Tramplebone. Basil is a Wrathmonk, a wicked wizard. When he discovers Measle playing with his cherished miniature railway, Basil casts an evil spell that shrinks Measle to tiny proportions and imprisons him in the world of the train set. This, of course, puts Measle in all sorts of fantastic predicaments, including his memorable escapes from hungry bats and roaches. The story ends with the suggestion of a sequel. This entertaining, fast-paced novel has moments of humor and suspense, but its characters and plot are derivative of such popular fantasy stories as the Harry Potter series and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Still, fans of those tales will no doubt find appeal in Ogilvy's quirky characters and their bizarre adventures. Ed Sullivan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Ian Ogilvy is the author of two other books about the intrepid Measle Stubbs: Measle and the Wrathmonk and its sequel, Measle and the Dragodon. He is also an actor and has appeared in many plays, as well as in the popular British TV series The Saint, in which he played the title role. He was born in England but now lives in southern California with his wife, his two stepsons, and lots and lots of dogs.