The Cuckoo Tree

The Cuckoo Tree by Joan Aiken

Here is a journey you are going to have to take along with me because sometimes you have to be reminded… why?

Book 1: The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Bonnie, Sylvia and Simon the Goose Boy)

Book 2: Black Hearts in Battersea (Simon and Dido)

Book 3: Nightbirds on Nantucket (Dido and Dutiful Penitence)

Book 4: The Whispering Mountain (Owen and Aramis)

Book 5: The Cuckoo Tree (Dido, Tobit and Cris with a pinch of Simon and Owen)

And if I am correct, this means that I am halfway done with the series! Hip hip! Hurray!

This series might be a touch difficult for young American readers because it is uniquely English. The dialect, the slang, the geography, the setting, the history can be a stumbling block if you don’t have bit of English background. Even if you do, this series is meant to be an alternate history and thus it is fantastical rather than historical. Add to that, most of what happens is technically impossible, but most kids would love for it to be true. Take for instance, an elephant named Rachel who will transport you to wherever you need to go without guidance. Or a conspiracy that puts St. Paul’s Cathedral’s foundations on rollers so that it can be pushed into the Thames. If you can get passed these obstacles… you are in for a wild and sometimes comedic romp. This is old-school, prince-and-pauper and everyone is more than they appear to be.

Despite its complexity, I will take its conspiracy over the 39 Clues mysteries any day. I am having a hard time putting into words the “why”. Both are fiction. And yet Wolves makes fun of its own fantastical nature while 39 Clues tries to set itself in reality. Wolves’ villains are bumbling idiots and the children are clever. 39’s villains are evil, well-funded, brilliant, double-agents, but the children are too. 39 doesn’t surprise me anymore. Wolves’ gets me every time. Aiken is putting her daydreams on paper. 39 is a “business machine”.

And you’re wondering why I’m comparing the two… two mystery series separated by 3 decades and an ocean. Fine, I’m reading them back to back. But this one is a joy and imaginative.

Dido has finally arrived back in England in the care of one Captain Owen Hughes. Captain Hughes is believed dead in the Chinese wars, but the reality is that he is hurrying home after a long absence to deliver an important dispatch to the Lord Admiral concerning a conspiracy to off the King. Unfortunately, the Captain suffers from a head injury and Dido has taken it upon herself to not only protect the Captain and his dispatch, but also deliver the two to London.

However, their carriage, by accident or intent, is rolled over along the way and Dido and the Captain must reside at Dogkennel cottages while the Captain recovers. While at Dogkennel, Dido meets two witches, a blind man, a young “sir” and his grandmother and a strange boy who lives her cottage attic. Not trusting the Captain’s safety in the vicinity of the witches, Dido must find someone trustworthy to deliver the dispatch before it is too late. But while we wait… Dido must uncover conspiracies at Dogkennel that may or may not be connected to the Hanoverian plot against the king.

I am most thrilled because Owen is finally reunited with his long lost father and thus book 4 is actually united to the series.

Still wondering who I can sell this series too. My daughter did not latch to it. But I have all summer!