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Claire Legrand

Claire Legrand

New York Times bestselling author of darkly magical books

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The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls

March 2, 2014 by

The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls

Release Date: August 28, 2012

Victoria hates nonsense. There is no need for it when your life is perfect.

The only smudge on her pristine life is her best friend Lawrence. He is a disaster–lazy and dreamy, shirt always untucked, obsessed with his silly piano. Victoria often wonders why she ever bothered being his friend. (Lawrence does, too.)

But then Lawrence goes missing. And he’s not the only one. Victoria soon discovers that Mrs. Cavendish’s children’s home is not what it appears to be. Kids go in but come out . . . different, or they don’t come out at all.

If anyone can sort this out, it’s Victoria, even if it means getting a little messy.

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Imaginative and creepy, with a frightening villainess, this atmospherically illustrated fantasy will suck readers in.

The Horn Book Guide Reviews

The combination of the Stepford-like town and the atmospheric home provide a deliciously creepy backdrop to this precise blend of dark humor and genuine horror. . . . Victoria is . . . oddly endearing, and readers with their own color-coordinated planners will thrill to see her leadership skills and sheer determination save the day.

The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Insidiously creepy, searingly sinister, and spine-tinglingly fun, this book also presents a powerful message about friendship and the value of individuality.

School Library Journal

The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls is weirdly charming and creepy. I loved the intrepid girl hero Victoria and her determination to save her best friend from the scariest Home ever. An enormously fun–and shivery–read.

Sarah Prineas
author of The Magic Thief series

The too-serene-to-be-true town of Belleville harbors some creepy secrets in Legrand’s debut, a sinister and occasionally playful tale of suspense. Legrand gives Victoria’s mission a prickly energy, and her descriptions of the sighing, heaving home—a character in itself—are the stuff of bad dreams. Watts’s b&w illustrations of spindly characters, cryptic shadows, and cramped corridors amplify the unsettling ambiance, and her roach motif may have readers checking their arms.

Publishers Weekly

★ A heartwarming friendship tale . . . A thoroughgoing ickfest, elevated by vulnerable but resilient young characters and capped by a righteously ominous closing twist.

Kirkus Reviews, starred review

. . a terrifying tale laced with chilling secrets and stunning revelations.

New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing in 2012
Reading GuideAdd on GoodreadsPinterest Board

PRAISE

The New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing, 2012

Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award Master List (VT)

Michigan Mitten Award Honor

MSTA Reading Circle List

A heartwarming friendship tale . . . A thoroughgoing ickfest, elevated by vulnerable but resilient young characters and capped by a righteously ominous closing twist.

Kirkus Reviews
starred review

The combination of the Stepford-like town and the atmospheric home provide a deliciously creepy backdrop to this precise blend of dark humor and genuine horror.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

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