Island of the Aunts [Paperback]

When the kindly old aunts decide that they need help caring for creatures who live on their hidden island, they know that adults can't be trusted. What they need are a few special children who can keep a secret-a secret as big as a magical island. And what better way to get children who can keep really big secrets, than to kidnap them! (After all, some children just plain need to be kidnapped.) Don't miss this wildly inventive and funny read from master storyteller Eva Ibbotson.Eva Ibbotson,born Maria Charlotte Michelle Wiesner (1925–2010), was an Austrian-born British novelist, known for her children's books. Some of her novels for adults have been successfully reissued for the young adult market in recent years. For the historical novel Journey to the River Sea (Macmillan, 2001), she won the Smarties Prize in category 9–11 years, garnered unusual commendation as runner-up for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, and made the Carnegie Medal, Whitbread Award, and Blue Peter Book Award shortlists. She was a finalist for the 2010 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize at the time of her death. Her last book, The Abominables, was one of eight books on the longlist for the same award in 2012.

Kevin Hawkesis the author and illustrator ofThe Wicked Big ToddlahandThe Wicked Big Toddlah Goes to New York, and is the illustrator of many well-loved books for young readers includingImagine That:!How Dr. Seuss Wrotethe Cat in the Hat, Library Lion,My Little Sister Ate One Hare, My Little Sister Hugged an Ape,And to Think That We Thought That We'd Never Be Friends,The Road to Oz, Velma Gratch, and The Way Cool Butterfly. He lives in Gorham, Maine.

INTRODUCTION

Ghosts and hags, wizards and banshees, mermaids and mistmakers—all are part of the magical worlds that Eva Ibbotson creates in her fantasy books for children. Even hlØ