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Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove) | J FICTION OGD | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | J FICTION OGD | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Fire ants. Fraud. Footie pajamas.
Twins Edgar and Ellen live alone -- their parents disappeared years ago, and who can blame them? -- in the quaint, little town of Nod's Limbs, in a grim, gray house overlooking the cemetery and the junkyard. They spend their days avoiding Heimertz, the mysterious accordion-playing caretaker; pestering Pet, a hairy, one-eyed creature of indeterminate species and gender; and wreaking havoc on the hapless citizens of Nod's Limbs.
But wreaking havoc can incur expenses, so the twins come up with a unique fund-raising scheme: They'll nab the pets of Nod's Limbs and transform them into exotic animals they can sell for big bucks. Not a bad plan, if one of the purloined pets wasn't a lethargic python with a raging appetite....
Author Notes
Charles Ogden is an avid camper and fisherman. He collects insects and has traveled in pursuit of various specimens to the North Pole, the Souh Pole, and Poland. Mr. Ogden and his insect collection make their home in a cool, dry, preservation-friendly environment, far removed from prying eyes.
Rick Carton has been drawing longer than he's been walking. In his Chicago studio he has a cherished collection of every pencil ever worn down to a nub during his lengthy artistic career. He has never formally studed art; instead, the art community has diligently studied him. They are yet to release their findings.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
With the publication of the fourth paper-over-board adventure of these evil and funny twins, Edgar & Ellen: Pet's Revenge by Charles Ogden, Aladdin reissues the first three, begun with Rare Beasts. Here, their one-eyed Pet rebels against its masters, and Ellen begins bathing and dusting the house. Could Pet be behind her eccentric behavior? (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
In order to raise money to fund their diabolical schemes, Edgar and Ellen--two unlikable, gruesome twins with a penchant for mischief--kidnap all the pets in Nod's Limbs, give them exotic makeovers (since rare beasts are a valuable commodity), and try to sell them for a bundle. Though slow moving, Ogden's story is original and unpredictable. The bold black-and-white spot illustrations add atmosphere. From HORN BOOK Spring 2004, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Gr. 4-6. Twins Edgar and Ellen live in a dreary mansion with Schadenfreude chiseled above the door, an appropriate catchword (helpfully defined in the text) for this new series. With parents on an extended \lquote round-the-world' holiday, the twins spend their days plotting against their neighbors--that is, when they're not harassing each other (instead of hide-and-seek, they play hide-and-seek-and- subdue). The twins' diabolical debut involves stealing house pets, giving them freakish makeovers, and opening an exotic animal emporium. When a hungry python, their only real exotic captive, foils the scheme, the resulting showdown with clueless parents and mewling children adds another layer of permafrost to the twins' icy hearts. Carton's cobwebby line art is suitably Gothic, and fans of Lemony Snicket will relish Ogden's satirical sensibility. But when it comes right down to it, the nastiness of the characters makes them hard to like. Will Edgar and Ellen find their consciences in the promised second installment? Don't hold your breath. --Jennifer Mattson Copyright 2003 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 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 (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
It Begins. . . The warm night air had a weight to it and hung over the town like a dirty wet dishcloth. It was very late, well past midnight, and the only sounds were the steady chirping of crickets and the occasional hooting of owls. Down by the river, two shadowy figures danced across the roof of a covered bridge. Flailing their arms and legs about to keep their balance on the steep pitch, they formed whirling silhouettes against the night sky. "Watch out , Sister, you're getting it all over me!" "Well, if you had remembered a flashlight, I'd be able to see what I was doing, Brother." "Oh, you can see as well as me. You're doing it on purpose." "Oops!" said Ellen as she dragged her brush across Edgar's face. "You'll be sorry you did that," he muttered, red paint dripping from the tip of his chin. "Hush, I'm almost done." Ellen finished the last letter, and stood back to make sure she had spelled everything properly. "You forgot the exclamation point!" said Edgar as he dumped what was left in the paint can over his sister's head. Edgar and Ellen tackled each other and tumbled off the roof, splashing into the water below. Standing in the waist-high river, soaking wet, with red paint flowing as if they were bleeding from terrible wounds, the twins admired their work. "I like it, Brother." "It's certainly better than it was before, Sister." They cackled over the sounds of crickets and owls and crept home. Copyright ©2003 by Star Farm Productions, LLC. Chapter 1: Welcome to Nod's Limbs, Friend For the most part, Nod's Limbs was a lovely place to live. It wasn't a big town, but it wasn't small either. It was, quite simply, an upstanding community of historic landmarks and charming shopping malls. The Running River cut through the center of town, although it really should have been called the Walking Stream or the Crawling Trickle since it wasn't very wide and didn't flow very fast. Seven covered bridges allowed people and cars to cross the river, and the townspeople were very proud of their covered bridges. It's rare to see one covered bridge in a town these days, and Nod's Limbs had seven . They looked like big red barns spanning the river, identical except for what was painted on their roofs. Each had two words painted in big white block letters, one word on each side. If you were traveling the length of Florence Boulevard, each bridge added another word to a message, and the message was different depending on which direction you were traveling. From east to west, the roofs read WELCOME FRIEND TO NOD'S LIMBS STAY AWHILE . From west to east they said COME BACK SOON FRIEND AND TAKE CARE . However, since you could enter Nod's Limbs from the west as easily as from the east, and leave in either direction as well, sometimes these messages made sense and sometimes they didn't. But though you might be wished WELCOME as you left and greeted with COME BACK SOON as you entered, the residents of Nod's Limbs didn't mind because they thought it looked quaint. But no matter how respectable a town is, when it's large enough, it usually develops what the locals call the "right side of town" and the "wrong side of town." The "right side of town" is where the honest, hardworking citizens live. The streets are clean, the lawns are manicured, and people walk around with smiles on their faces and a kind word for their neighbors. On the "wrong side of town," however, people don't look each other in the eye when passing in the street. It's where the disreputable people live, such as those who would deface public property -- those who would take the sweet greetings of their town and alter them to say mean things like WELCOME FIENDS TO SMELLY NOD'S LIMBS DON'T FEED THE ANIMALS and DON'T COME BACK HERE EVER EVER EVER . The streets here are covered in trash and dirt, and the houses are dark, dilapidated, and terribly unpleasant. Nod's Limbs was large enough to have a "right side" and a "wrong side," and you might think that both "sides" of the town would be about the same size. Not so in Nod's Limbs. "An honest day's work for an honest day's pay" was the credo of most of the town's citizens, and because of this dedication, just about the whole of Nod's Limbs could be considered the "right side." All, that is, except for one small block on the far end of town. Copyright ©2003 by Star Farm Productions, LLC. Excerpted from Rare Beasts by Charles Ogden All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
Table of Contents
Lo a Mad Experience Awaits... It Begins. . |
1 Welcome to Nod's Limbs, Friend |
2 The Wrong Side |
3 The Twins |
4 Hide-and-Seek |
5 A Need for Something New |
6 Possibilities |
7 Pet |
8 Today's Program |
9 Aha! |
10 Heimertz |
11 Lurking and Slinking |
12 Down in the Basement |
13 A Little Night Music |
14 The Exotic Animal Emporium |
15 Missing! |
16 Open for Business |
17 Relocation |
18 Dairy Deliveries |
19 On the Road |
20 Handle with Care |
21 Rare Beast Expertise |
22 Lucky Engine Number 7 |
23 The Search Party |
24 Fuel to the Fire |
25 Edgar and Ellen Face Off |
26 Snakes Will Be Snakes |
27 An Attention Getter |
28 No One Likes a Bath |
29 Close of Business |
30 The End of the Broadcast Day |