Hooray for Ottoline! - Rated 
I'm a great fan of Ottoline and Mr Munroe, but that yellow cat is a crafty grimalkin!
Divine illustrations make this quirky tale - Rated 
Ottoline lives in a big city apartment with Mr Munroe, looking after her parents collections while they're off on their travels. Being a feisty young thing, a spate of dog-nappings catches her eye and she's off detecting.
There are slight surreal touches, and lots of humour - rather Lemony Snicket like without the sadness of being an orphan. This is super story for confident young readers of around 7yrs, but the real joy of this book is in the super illustrations; black and white pen drawings that are full of quirky details and little annotations, enlivened by small splashes of red. It was the illustrations that attracted me to buy the book for my daughter - she adores them too, but is itching to get the colouring pencils out to finish the job!
Beautiful Book - Rated 
I bought this for my 6 year old god-daughter for Christmas, and she'd finished it by boxing day. She loved it!! She says she's looking for more books by the same author, a good review from a 6 year old. The only thing was that her mum was disappointed that she didn't get chance to read it to her!
Book that is a pleasure to own on several levels - Rated 
Beautiful and detailed illustrations, attractively produced book, and a good story. I find it very hard to find books to appeal to my daughter (10) but this was a resounding success. It is a joy to hold and to look at. It is also quick to read as it has fairly large print and a wealth of illustrations - tentative readers get the satisfaction of having read a whole 'proper' book fairly easily. Fergus Crane and Hugo Pepper (same author, subtle links between the stories) are a bit longer but also excellent.
My favourite children's book of the year - Rated 
This book is fantastic. I had been looking for something new to read to my children that wasn't going to be boring for me, and in this book I found it. It is absolutely hilarious, beautifully written, exciting for kids and with the most amazing illustrations. My eight year old loved it and my four year old begged for more story every night. As soon as it was finished they wanted me to start again from the beginning. Ottoline is a little girl who lives alone, except for her hairy companion Mr Monroe, who her parents rescued from a Norwegian Bog. Ottoline is a precociously clever child, a mistress of disguise and a compulsive collector, a trait she has inherited from her explorer parents who are constantly circumnavigating the globe, sending her postcards from far away places along with collections of new things. Ottoline gets drawn into a mystery as the dogs and jewels of her neighbours start to go missing. Luckily, Ottoline and Mr Monroe are on the case. The book has beautiful production values and is a thing of joy in itself. A future classic.
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