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danelleeb 's review for:
The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls
by Claire Legrand
Victoria's life is perfect. Everything in it is perfect. From her gleaming curls, to her organized and labeled boxes, to her white room, and her perfect grades - even the town she lives in - everything is nice and orderly, and, well, perfect. It's perfect until her best and only friend, Lawrence, goes missing.
You see, when Lawrence goes missing, no one seems to care. No one seems to even remember Lawrence. Even Victoria has to make an effort to think of 'Lawrence-things' to get a clear picture of her best friend. Victoria took Lawrence on as a "special project" and was helping him to get his act together. Lawrence had messy hair, played the piano too much, and wasn't organized and neat. Without Lawrence around, Victoria is kind of lost. So she begins an investigation on the children who've gone missing recently. Her investigation leads her right to Mrs. Cavendish's Home For Boys and Girls. You see, children seem to be disappearing and Victoria finds that they go to Mrs. Cavendish's and they either come out well-behaved and quiet or they disappear. When the adults in her town of Belleville tell her lies or warn her away from her task, she refuses to quit. She didn't get top marks in everything for nothing!
The Cavendish Home For Boys And Girls reminded me of so many other children's horror stories - especially [b:Coraline|17061|Coraline|Neil Gaiman|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327871014s/17061.jpg|2834844]. There are some pretty gross things in this story that aren't comepletely evident in the beginning. Only when Victoria begins to put things together do you realize how awful things really are; we're talking bullying, physical abuse, murder, and (if you can imagine) even worse. (I'm SO glad I'm a vegetarian!)
I loved Victoria, her precociousness, her preoccupation with perfection and even her cause for questioning things that she otherwise wouldn't have. The book is probably more young-adult book than children's. The horror in it is well done and just suspenseful enough, and thought it's most definitely horror, there are funny bits in it as well. ("I am going to die," her brain recited calmly. "I am going to be stabbed until I am dead. How infuriating. I have so much left to do.")
This is Legrand's first book and I look forward to more.
You see, when Lawrence goes missing, no one seems to care. No one seems to even remember Lawrence. Even Victoria has to make an effort to think of 'Lawrence-things' to get a clear picture of her best friend. Victoria took Lawrence on as a "special project" and was helping him to get his act together. Lawrence had messy hair, played the piano too much, and wasn't organized and neat. Without Lawrence around, Victoria is kind of lost. So she begins an investigation on the children who've gone missing recently. Her investigation leads her right to Mrs. Cavendish's Home For Boys and Girls. You see, children seem to be disappearing and Victoria finds that they go to Mrs. Cavendish's and they either come out well-behaved and quiet or they disappear. When the adults in her town of Belleville tell her lies or warn her away from her task, she refuses to quit. She didn't get top marks in everything for nothing!
The Cavendish Home For Boys And Girls reminded me of so many other children's horror stories - especially [b:Coraline|17061|Coraline|Neil Gaiman|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327871014s/17061.jpg|2834844]. There are some pretty gross things in this story that aren't comepletely evident in the beginning. Only when Victoria begins to put things together do you realize how awful things really are; we're talking bullying, physical abuse, murder, and (if you can imagine) even worse. (I'm SO glad I'm a vegetarian!)
I loved Victoria, her precociousness, her preoccupation with perfection and even her cause for questioning things that she otherwise wouldn't have. The book is probably more young-adult book than children's. The horror in it is well done and just suspenseful enough, and thought it's most definitely horror, there are funny bits in it as well. ("I am going to die," her brain recited calmly. "I am going to be stabbed until I am dead. How infuriating. I have so much left to do.")
This is Legrand's first book and I look forward to more.