Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1998685 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-01
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Binding: Audio CD

From Amazon.com
Young twins Edgar and Ellen make the Grinch look positively benevolent. Living alone in a spooky house in the town of Nod's Limbs (their parents are on an extended around-the-world holiday), the bug-eyed, matted-haired, disturbingly pale siblings amuse themselves by plotting dreadful schemes to torture the townspeople. Inspired by a TV show about the value of exotic animals, they decide to steal all the local pets, decorate them with old Christmas ornaments (Grinchy enough for ye?), and sell them at market price. If they became very rich from the proceeds, they could spray the soccer fields with fizzy cola from a hang glider, or erect a giant windmill to blow manure all over town, or buy a whole carnival and not let anyone else enjoy the games and rides! As they skulk around Nod's Limbs with giant sacks, they find it surprisingly easy to snatch puppies, kittens, bunnies, hamsters, and even a Burmese python. Let the basement transformation to Uggprons and Snifflepops begin! They lull themselves to sleep that night with the sound of weeping children mourning the loss of their beloved pets, "a steady, groaning noise rising up from the world outside." It seems that fans of the comic-goth genre (Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events and Holly Black's Spiderwick Chronicles) have another series in which to wallow, this time where the child protagonists are not victims but predators. Rick Carton's funny, artful pen-and-ink illustrations perfectly capture the Addams family feel of the story, from the pleading eyes of the neighborhood pets in the darkness of the "exotic animal emporium" cart to the tiny Turkle boys crawling through sewer pipes in the desperate search for their pet. (Ages 8 and older) --Karin Snelson

From Publishers Weekly
This somewhat derivative farce launches the Edgar & Ellenseries starring 12-year-old twins. The two live in a grimy, gloomymansion with Pet, "a matted ball of long, dark hair, similar inappearance to an old dirty wig"; Pet is also one-eyed, as the niftylenticular eye affixed to the book's cover stresses. In the absence ofany parents, the siblings spend their days harassing each other andplotting ways to create "mischief and mayhem." Learning from TV thatcollectors pay high prices for exotic animals, the diabolic duo devisea money-raising scheme to fund various elaborate pranks (e.g., dumpingsacks of white pepper into muffin batter at a bakery). Afterpurloining the neighbors' pets, the two use paint, glitter andChristmas decorations previously nabbed from other people's yards totransform the animals into "rare beasts." They then display thecritters in a puppet theater that they've stolen from a kindergartenclassroom and pull the menagerie through town on an old cart. The pacelags considerably as Edgar and Ellen try unsuccessfully to sell theridiculous-looking creatures to the townsfolk before the neighborhoodkids-red-eyed from crying over their missing pets-blow the whistle onthe twins' nefarious doings. First-time author Ogden's outlandish,hyperbolic humor recalls Lemony Snicket's tales of woe, yet thisnarrative's intermittent slapstick quality falls flat. Final artworknot seen by PW. Ages 9-up. (Sept.)
Copyright 2003 Reed BusinessInformation.

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6-Twelve-year-old twins Edgar and Ellen live alone in the weirdest, most depressing house in the town of Nod's Limbs. Well, almost alone-they have Pet, a greasy, one-eyed hairball creature that doesn't do much, and the twins prefer livelier victims. With no interfering parents around, they spend their time playing their own version of hide-and-seek, where the finder gets to torture the hider, using a startling variety of techniques from simple ropes and tripwires to swinging pendulums straight out of Edgar Allan Poe. The siblings are plotting an attack on a neighboring town, but they need cash for battle supplies so they decide to open an exotic-animal business. Lacking any real bizarre beasts to sell, the terrible two stage a raid on the town; kidnap the local pets; and dress them up with feathers, glue, glitter, and paint, and then offer the grotesque creatures back to the townspeople at preposterous prices. The book aspires to be a deadpan mock-gothic in the mold of Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events" (HarperCollins), but the action here is just mean-spirited. There is a disturbing edge of explicit cruelty, particularly to animals. Edgar and Ellen are unrelievedly amoral, and they show neither remorse nor regret for their actions. The eerie black-and-white Charles Addamsesque illustrations add a touch of grim humor, but they're not enough to lighten this dark tale.
Elaine E. Knight, Lincoln Elementary Schools, IL
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