At first Lady Agatha was surprised by how easily the yetis took to a civilized English upbringing, but she soon realized that they were truly kind and considerate by nature, not only to each other, but to every living thing. In the mornings, when she combed them, they would cup their huge hands to catch the little spiders and beetles that had crept into their hair during the night, and release them carefully onto the ground. They always looked where they were putting their huge feet, avoiding worm casts and spiders’ nests and molehills, in case someone was at home. So they were particularly pleased when Agatha taught them to say sorry, for you should Always Apologize for Any Inconvenience You Have Caused. Clarence had a problem, too. With him it was his brain. When he was small, Clarence had been naughty and left the valley without telling Lady Agatha and gone climbing on his own, and a gigantic boulder had come loose and hit him on the All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

Charmingly illustrated...this book will have you smiling before the first chapter's end --Newcastle Journal Something wasn’t right. He began to stir the babies round, prodding and digging and turning them over like underdone sausages. And then he pounced and, with a proud grunt, held something out to Agatha. And care for them she did. The very fat, blue-eyed baby was a girl and Agatha called her Lucy, after the kennel-maid who had been her best friend at Farley Towers. The brown-eyed yeti, who was a boy, she called Clarence. And of course there was Ambrose, with his mad eyes and his squashed face—Ambrose who was always being sat on by the others, or falling into mouse-hare holes, or getting lost. I would highly recommend The Abominables to readers that are fans of the late, great Eva Ibbotson. Readers that enjoy animal stories, humor, and adventure will greatly enjoy the story. I am a little unsure on my age recommendations as I think readers around 8 and older would be my best guess. However, there is quite a bit about animal rights and cruelty so some of the youngest set might be upset by. However, (spoiler) every character gets their happy ending so that might be enough to make the mild upset worth the big happy that is sure to follow. I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads.At this point in the book--so very early on--all I could think was "White Man's Burden" which is not a theme I want to find in a book published in 2013. Briskly funny and full of incident, The Abominables is vintage Ibbotson. With unforgettable characters and thoughtful messages about the environment and advocacy, it’s a generous last gift to her many devoted fans. Eva's final novel that she completed prior to her death at the age of 85 in 2010 is called One Dog and his Boy. The writing is skillful, precise, and frequently funny, and it offers an effective counterbalance to some of the story’s more serious social criticism..." The incomplete manuscript of this charming story was found amongst Eva Ibbotson's papers at her death in 2010. Although it has been finished by her son, this has all the familiar ingredients of a trademark Ibbotson tale: it is warm-hearted, funny and full of magical imagination. But as well as humour, there is also a powerful message here about the importance of nature and the environment, protecting endangered species, and opposing cruelty and injustice. Illustrated by Sharon Rentta, who also provided the illustrations for Ibbotson's One Dog and His Boy, this touching and engaging story is irresistible. A classic in the making.

Find some synonyms (words that mean the same or similar). Create a wordsearch or a crossword for the words that you have explored today for someone in your family to attempt. It pains me to say that I did not enjoy this. So much so that I didn't even finish it. I can only review what I've read, but even that makes me rather sad. Summary: Lady Agatha Farlingham is captured by a yeti, and agrees to bring up his motherless children. Many decades later danger threatens, and the yetis have to flee their idyllic home. Agatha decides the only place her beloved yeti family will be safe is at her ancestral home, in Hampshire. But she is old now: who will take them there?And, as Toby Ibbotson has observed, the yetis – classified as sub-human, persecuted, shipped across Europe in a meat wagon; rescued, traumatised, from the brink of extinction – are Jewish. Some of the great many children who will love this book might, when they are older, hear its deeper soundings.