Product Description

When their parents go to America for the summer, Madlyn and Rollo are sent to their great-aunt Emily and great-uncle George at Clawstone Castle, home of the legendary and mysterious Wild White Cattle of Clawstone Park. But times are hard at Clawstone, as the fancier castle down the road attracts all the tourist traffic. Determined to save the castle and the herd, Madlyn and Rollo audition a cast of ghosts to add some thrills to the Clawstone tours, and soon visitors are pouring through the gates. But just when things are looking up, the ghosts and children find themselves facing a great mystery, and some very sinister enemies. Will Madlyn, Rollo, and their ghostly friends find a way to save the day?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #235427 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780142409312
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8–Victims of busy parents, Madlyn, 11, and Rollo, 9, go to stay with an eccentric cast of relatives at Clawstone Castle. Along with Great-Aunt Emily, her brother Great-Uncle George, and no-longer-living Cousin Howard, the real attraction is the legendary and noble Wild White Cattle herd. The children join the family's endeavors to support the animals by turning the place into a museum, but when the bovines are cow-napped, each family member plays a part in their return, along with Ibbotson's usual cadre of banshees and ghosts, as well as a pair of Scottish feet. Everything readers like about this author is present in good amounts. From the first chapter, they will make an emotional connection with Madlyn and Rollo and with the impoverished, yet creative castle denizens. While a ghost with a rat munching on its heart may not leave a pleasant feeling in one's stomach, it cannot be denied that it is memorable, even more so when Ibbotson convinces readers to pity the rat. She deftly brings in such contemporary issues as land development, animal rights, and the environment without creating an obvious message. The story's quest pattern (find the cows!) makes the plot easy to follow and well structured, accompanied by humorous and disgusting details aplenty. Hawkes's whimsical, full-page line drawings are scattered throughout. More of a page-turner than some of Ibbotson's recent stories, this novel will find a following among readers of Suzanne Collins's Gregor the Overlander (Scholastic, 2003) or Angie Sage's Septimus Heap series (HarperCollins).–Caitlin Augusta, The Darien Library, CT
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From Booklist
Eleven-year-old Madlyn and her younger brother, Rollo, are sent to stay with their great-aunt and -uncle Clawstone at crumbling Clawstone Castle, only to be embroiled in the castle's financial troubles; the castle must attract more paying visitors to maintain its legendary herd of Wild White cattle. To compete with a nearby attraction, the castle needs some chills and thrills, so the Clawstones select some vulgar, terrifying ghosts and set up such a frightening show that tourists scream, faint, and retch--only to return with their friends. Through the machinations of some unknown persons, however, the Clawstones lose the cattle, leaving the children (and the ghosts) with a mystery to solve. Plot embellishments are sometimes distracting, and the convoluted story comes together in a series of coincidences. Ibbotson's charismatic ghosts are great, however------as human as they are horrific--and there's plenty of quirky humor in this energetic, diverting read, loaded with charm. Krista Hutley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
The book offers a plethora of tangled threads and comic characters. -- Publishers Weekly

Customer Reviews

New book by Ibbotson
This book was published in England in May 2005 and will release in USA in 2006. So I bought the British copy as I could not wait for another marvelous story from Eva to send me into stitches of laughter.

In the story a brother and sister, Madlyn and Rollo, are sent to stay with their kindly Uncle at his "Castle Clawstone" set in the Scottish Highlands. On arrival they find out the dreamy sounding castle is falling apart. The castle is under a huge debt and no funds are available for repair. There are friendly ghosts living in the castle, as well as some rare wild white cattle living on the property and they are at risk if the castle isn't saved. And who is the mysterious being hiding in the library? The siblings have auditions with ghosts to find the best ghosts to scare visitors to complete their plan to turn the castle into a haunted tourist attraction. As usual; Ibbotson's ghosts are nutty as they can be including the Bloodstained Bride ,a pair of hairy Scottish feet without a body, a girl cut in half in a magic act, and others. Madlyn turns out to be a natural financial genius and they start making money. But a neighbor has very evil plans for the cattle, and it will take every effort by the siblings and their new alllies to fight back. I highly reccommend!