Ottoline’s life is the embodiment of the old-fashioned orphan story. Her parents are not really dead—just off travelling—and they communicate via postcards bearing clairvoyant messages. She has oodles of money, people care for her every need, and a trusty sidekick named Mr. Munroe, who is “small, hairy, and from a bog in Norway” (2). Together they investigate the disappearance of pets and jewels from neighborhood residences. Chris Riddell, known principally as an illustrator, has served up a walloping good story—copiously illustrated—for readers willing to attempt more complex, but still short, chapter books. 2009 Outstanding International Books List. The author has won the Kate Greenaway Medal twice and the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize seven times. lmp

Originally published by Macmillan Children’s Books Great Britain, in 2007.