Book Review: The Strictest School in the World by Harold Whitehouse

Book Description:

Fourteen-year-old pioneering aviatrix Emmaline Cayley is afraid of one thing: plummeting to her doom. (Actually two, if you count her Aunt Lucy's appalling cooking.) Fortunately, twelve-year-old Robert Burns, an indestructible village boy, is not. Absurdly unafraid of bodily harm (not to mention Aunt Lucy's sandwiches), "Rubberbones" is the ideal pilot for Emmaline's experiments with flight. But before Emmaline can perfect a flying machine with the aid of her new friend, she is sent off to St. Grimelda's School for Young Ladies -- to be cured of her decidedly unladylike ways. It is a school so strict, so severe, so forbidding that it makes the brutal misery in the tales of Charles Dickens look cheery by comparison. With a horrifying headmistress, terrifying teachers and food that is even worse than Aunt Lucy's, this medieval stronghold also houses a terrible secret and a mysterious way of keeping its prisoners, er, its students in line. All Emmaline can think of is escape. But no one has ever escaped from St. Grimelda's. And our heroine soon realizes that the only way out is to face her greatest fear ...

My thoughts:
The Strictest School in the World by Howard Whitehouse came highly recommended from Carrie at Reading to Know. This was a fun book with hilarious characters and an suspenseful and exciting plot. I know my kids would love this book and am hoping to be able to read it aloud soon.