Product Description

'We must kidnap some children,' announced Aunt Etta. 'Young, strong ones. It will be dangerous, but it must be done.' Three children are stolen and taken to a bizarre island, which is home to some extraordinary creatures - including mermaids, selkies and the legendary kraken. The island is the base for a very mysterious mission. But the magical adventure is cut short, when the island is suddenly under siege. Can they save themselves and their new friends? 'Funny, gripping, charming and completely irresistible' - Amanda Craig.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1919112 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05-04
• Format: Unabridged
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
Eva Ibbotson lives in Newcastle upon Tyne and has four grown-up children. She has written ten other books for children, which have been translated into many languages. She has won several major awards for her work, and two major movies based on her books are currently in development.

Customer Reviews

This IS Island of The Aunts
Whether it was a re-release, or the English version of the same story, this is the same book as Island of the Aunts. You can imagine my daughter's and my disappointment when, just after finishing Island of the Aunts, we opened this-- only to read, ver batim, the exact same opening words.

I was not happy-- there WAS no description in Amazon.com of this book because it was used. (...)

Duplicates "The Island of the Aunts", but read on...
As you may have read from other reviewers, this book is identical in text/content to "The Island of the Aunts" from the same author. Please don't blame the author for this, as the problem lies with two different publishers both owning rights to print the book. (Puffin, and Macmillan) The book by one publisher has a different title and different cover art but it is the same book, word for word. This happened to another Ibbotson book "The Haunting of Hiram C. Hopgood" and "The Haunting of Granite Falls", are identical as well. To make it more confusing, I bought a book before these US releases, "The Haunting of Hiram" in Canada, and it is also the same book with yet another cover and title.

As long as you know BEFORE you buy, it's OK since you can pick which cover art you prefer. I happen to like the Macmillan cover more than the Puffin cover on both books myself, but at least I could choose. The down side of all this, is that I think that buyers are hesitant to rush to buy a new Ibbotson book until they learn more about is, as they are afraid it may duplicate a book they have. This gets harder when you are buying for someone else.

Now, the book that is for sale on this page "Monster Mission", is a great story. It is about three aunts that live on a magical island, whose mission is to care for the magic and mythical creatures of the world, mending them when they are hurt and that sort of thing. As they are getting up in years, they decide they need someone to take their place and it will take some time to train them. They know that it must be children, as they could understand the magic better and believe what they are seeing. So these kind gentle souls decide the best way to get them to the island is to kidnap them! They travel to London to take their time studying different kids to find those that have the right tempemperment and the best chance of success... they need good kind-hearted, smart kids. They find some but, also accidentaly steal another kid who is a beastly mean brat. To make matters worse a ship has arrived to pollute the island and exploit the creatures. This story is sweet and hilarious, dripping with suspense, full of imagination and memorable characters.

Island of the Aunts on cassette
If this is truly Island of the Aunts, then it is a good story. Just beware that publishers like to rename and reissue books to see if they'll sell better.