Horton Halfpott

It’s hard to know when to celebrate Horton’s book birthday. It’s due out May 1st, but it seems to be in stores NOW, and as we’ve already read the book in my house, I figured we’d get the party started.

Horton Halfpott (or The Fiendish Mystery of Smugwick Manor or The Loosening of M’Lady Luggertuck’s Corset) is written and illustrated by the amazing Tom Angleberger, whose Strange Case of Origami Yoda has taken the country by storm(trooper). There’s a sequel to OY coming out in August, but smack dab in the middle of the two Star Wars-inspired books we have Horton, which was inspired by … Charles Dickens.

I have to admit, I worried a bit about how quickly Origami Yoda fans would extend their allegiance to a kitchen boy who carried firewood instead of a light saber.

I shouldn’t have.

The second my elementary-aged son got a hold of Horton, he didn’t let it go until he’d turned the last page.

The chapter titles are clever and the chapter lengths are short, which should give kids confidence in the face of corsets and tricky surnames. (“Try saying this three times fast,” my son wrote in his reader’s response for school: “’M’Lady Luggertuck of Smugwick Manor.’ Hard, right?”) A reviewer somewhere is sure to dub this book “an engaging romp.” That same reviewer has probably dubbed a lot of things “engaging romps” over the years. This time, he’s right, though.

In the tradition of Motherreader, I thought my kid might be the best one to tell you about Horton Halfpott. Instead of hanging out on the virtual couch, we’re in his virtual bedroom. The bed isn’t made. That hard thing you’re sitting on? Probably a LEGO.

Me: I wasn’t sure, based largely on the use of the word “corset” in the opening, that fans of Origami Yoda would snatch this up right away. But you really liked this one, too.
My Kid: I thought there was a lot of funny stuff that happened and funny stuff always makes a book really cool.

Me: Do you know what a corset is?
My Kid: Yeah, it’s ladies’ underwear.

Me: What type of ladies’ underwear?
My Kid: No idea, but I think it’s probably kind of aprony.

We go on the internet and find a nice, G-rated corset.

Me: So can you imagine having to wear something like that?
My Kid: Yes, and I have to admit: it’s not good. Imagining it makes it feel like I have a very tight, very thick belt on. Plus, it’s LADIES’ underwear.

Me: My other worry besides the corset was that I didn’t know if boys your age would go for a book that had a little romance in it.
My Kid: Well, the romance makes it funny. In Star Wars there’s a love part with Han and Leia but the movie is still really, really cool. Sometimes you can have love but you can have humor as well.

Me: Who do you think would like this book?
My Kid: I think anyone who likes funny stuff would like this book.

Me: What was your favorite part?
My Kid: Well, what I thought was really funny was when the Shipless Pirates — [CENSORED. It would be too much of a spoiler to say what the Shipless Pirates actually do so we’ll just stop and say we dug the Shipless Pirates.]

Me: What about the language?
My Kid: Well it’s very old fashioned but it wasn’t a problem.

Me: I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by it’s cover, but do you want to tell me a little about the cover?
My Kid: I think the cover here is very interesting. As I told you earlier I think it looks a lot like the Mysterious Benedict Society cover, because it focuses on the house and it’s got the same sort of window silhouettes. This one glows in the dark and I thought that was a really cool thing.

Me: Who’s your favorite character in this book?
My Kid: Well, Horton, duh. If you’re saying besides Horton, I would have to say Bump.

Me: Do you feel sorry for Horton, when you meet him?
My Kid: Yeah.

Me: Without giving too much away, did you have any suspicions about The Luggertuck Lump?
My Kid: I was only positive that I knew who had taken it.

Me: And what are your feelings about pickle éclairs? Because I’m sure we can get Tom to give us a recipe …
My Kid: I think I’m interested in trying them to see what they taste like, even if they taste really gross.
My Other Kid, who loves OY but has not yet tackled HH: I want to have a pickle éclair!!

Happy Book Birthday to Horton Halfpott. You, too, can celebrate with a pickle éclair. You can also celebrate by visiting Horton at his new web site, or by visiting origamiyoda.com.

And a P.S.: In Dickens-related news, as I was googling about for links I didn’t use I found this article that talks about Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes as possibilities for a new version of Great Expectations!