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Summary
Summary
For excitement-hungry orphan Ivo, a mission to save Princess Mirella from the dreaded Ogre of Oglefort is a dream come true. Together with a hag, a wizard, and a troll, Ivo sets out, ready for adventure. But when they get to the ogre's castle, the rescuers are in for a surprise: the princess doesn't need saving, but the depressed ogre does! It's a warmhearted, hilarious romp in the tradition of Roald Dahl, with enough creepy magic, ghosts, and laughs to make even the saddest ogre smile.
Author Notes
Eva Ibbotson was born in Vienna, Austria, on January 21, 1925. She graduated from Bedford College, London with a degree in physiology in 1945 and the University of Durham with a degree in education in 1965. Her first book, The Great Ghost Rescue, was published in 1975. She primarily wrote children's book and romance novels for adults and young adults. Her other works include The Secret of Platform 13, The Star of Kazan, Which Witch?, Island of the Aunts, Dial-a-Ghost, The Ogre of Oglefort, A Company of Swans, and A Song For Summer. She won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for Journey to the River Sea. She died on October 20, 2010 at the age of 85.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
A hag, a troll, and a boy set out to rescue a princess held by an ogre. The princess refuses to return home and the troll cures the ogre's ills. Readers will giggle over all the twists and complications of this charming story. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Ibbotson (Journey to the River Sea) turns stereotypical portrayals of fairy tale figures on their head in this hilarious account of a princess's rescue. The fun begins when a clan of displaced magical creatures-a hag, a troll, and a wizard-is recruited to save young Princess Mirella from her captor, the "dreaded Ogre of Oglefort." However, when the team, accompanied by an orphan boy, Ivo, arrives at Oglefort Castle, they quickly learn that it's the tired and sickly ogre who needs liberation. In an attempt to avoid the horrible fate of marrying a "nitwit" of a prince, Mirella has been browbeating the ogre, demanding he change her into a bird. After the truth is sorted out, the rescuers devise new goals that include nurturing the ogre back to health and warding off intruders-like the regiment of soldiers led by Mirella's fiance. Fans of the author, who died in 2010, will find a gratifying mix of fresh material and traditional Ibbotson goodies: plenty of humorous twists, clever dialogue, an all's well that ends well conclusion, and, of course, cameo appearances by ghosts. Ages 8-12. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Ibbotson's playful humor, pungent turns of phrase, and sturdy friendliness toward her child heroes suffuse this novel (her second-to-last book), a fantasy that has its share of dramatic conflict but at heart celebrates the value of a peaceful home in which "people...[do] not want to be changed but...[are] content to be themselves." A displaced Hag and troll, a hapless wizard, and Ivo, an orphan whose look is "so attentive, so eager and intelligent" that he passes as an Unusual Creature, are told to slay a dreaded Ogre who holds a princess captive. But it turns out that Princess Mirella is with the Ogre of her own choice: she wants him to change her into a bird so she needn't marry foolish Prince Umberto. The Ogre doesn't want to transform her; he's a grieving widower who just wants to join his wife in her grave mound. Ivo, Mirella, and their magical friends become grief counselors, castle-and-garden renovators, and, briefly, a fighting force whose arsenal includes a soup tureen, roof tiles, and plagues of frogs, warts, and the Great Itch. In this one-darn-thing-after-another story, Ibbotson champions children's courage and intelligence and, in fantastical mode, illuminates the insidious evil of the overly interfering. deirdre f. baker (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A motley group hesitantly forms a princess-rescuing team and ends up in the last place they expected.In a postWorld War II London still recovering from the Blitz lives a Hag who's been dislodged from her Dribble (a water meadow where "the damp air is so soft"). At a meetingfor Unusual People, three partially-asleep norns assign the Hag, a troll, a self-doubting wizard and a open-hearted orphan to go to "an island as big as England and Scotland and Wales all put together" to rescue Princess Mirella from a flesh-eating ogre. They make the journey, befriend Mirella and take over the ogre's castle while the text calmly upends conventions and expectations: Mirella's no damsel-in-distress after all, and the ogre's more petulant and beleaguered than flesh-hungry. From Hag to ogre to misinformed norns to a previously-human gnu, Ibbotson's characters are non-glamorous and wistful but all the more human for it. Although soldiers try to kidnap Mirella, the real challenge for these mixed-age protagonists is sadness. The plot never flags or becomes sentimental; humor and gross-out tidbits (medicine made from used foot-washing water) pop up amid delicious turns of phrase (a dead salamander looks "like a very troubled banana which had died in its sleep"). Humility trumps grandness here; meanwhile, the castle becomes a home.An offbeat, matter-of-fact journey from displacement to an idyllic homestead. (Illustrations not seen.)(Fantasy. 8-11)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
After years of boring predictability at a cheerless orphanage, Ivo longs for adventure. Along with a homesick witch, a displaced troll, and a reluctant wizard, he takes on a daunting quest: to slay the Ogre of Oglefort and rescue Princess Mirella. But Mirella is no captive. After fleeing from a repugnant suitor at home, she has come to beg the ogre to turn her into a bird; however, the despondent ogre has troubles of his own. Slowly, the characters emerge from misery into happiness. Ibbotson has taken beings from folklore and mythology and tweaked them into more fallible, amusing, and occasionally disgusting characters. Even when detailing horrors, the writing has a droll, ironic wit that lights up the narrative. The rescue mission may have gone awry, but the dreaded castle slowly becomes a haven for these amiable misfits as the story unfolds and moves toward its unconventional but wholly satisfying conclusion.--Phelan, Caroly. Copyright 2010 Booklist
