Ribblestrop Andy Mulligan Why you haven’t heard...

Ribblestrop
Andy Mulligan

Why you haven’t heard of Ribblestrop up until now can be attributed to either of the following reasons. (A) You haven’t been to the nearest Fully Booked branch within the last couple of months, so you haven’t seen a copy of a certain children’s book lying around the store and you haven’t been enticed into buying it right then and there by its intriguing blurb and its handsomely drawn, if a little zany, yellow-on-black cover illustration. (I remember being told by a mad scientist on television that yellow and black is the most striking color combination of all time.) Or, much less probably, (B) You haven’t been consulted recently by a well-off colleague about which new book looks so promising that he must buy it immediately, so he can lend it to you and listen to what you have to say about the book shortly afterward before he starts reading it, because he values your opinion that way (or so you think), and you remember that paperback you skimmed through the last three times or so you were inside Fully Booked, that book you decided not to buy in the end despite its interesting premise and attractive design just because your wallet/ATM/credit card wasn’t presently up to the task of being complicit in making an $8 purchase, and you recommend that particular book to your friend. The book in question is called Ribblestrop.

You’ve heard of Hogwarts, yeah? You know, Harry Potter’s alma mater. Of course, you have. Why am I even asking that question? How about Hogwarts’ distant cousin then? Have you heard of her? No? Well, let me introduce you to her. Her name is Ribblestrop. She’s “the school they tried to close,” the subject of the fast-paced, genre-bending debut novel by Manila-based British educator Andy Mulligan. And if there’s a couple of things you must know about Ribblestrop, it’s that (A) she’s doggone crazy and (B) her motley crew of resident teachers and students are just as stoned out of their gourds.

8 October 2009 · Comments · Permalink · http://aldr.in/207505141