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Eddie Dickens Trilogy #1-3
Eddie Dickens Trilogy
"Awful End": When both of Eddie Dickens' parents catch a disease that makes them turn yellow, go a bit crinkly round the edges and smell of hot water bottles, it's agreed he should go and stay with relatives at their house Awful End. Unfortunately for Eddie, those relatives are Mad Uncle Jack and Even-Madder Aunt Maud, and it doesn't look as if the three of them are ever going to reach their destination..."Dreadful Acts": Eddie Dickens narrowly avoids an explosion, a hot-air balloon and arrest, only to find himself falling head-over heels for a girl with a face like a camel's, and into the hands of a murderous gang of escaped convicts who have 'one little job for him to do'. "Terrible Times": Eddie had been given the task of travelling to America to look after his family's interests there. But his life is never that simple; especially with a potential stowaway in his trunk, and Lady Constance Bustle at his side. She's a professional 'travelling companion', whose previous employers seem to have died under the most remarkable and unfortunate circumstances...
464 pages, Paperback
First published October 16, 2003
About the author
Philip Ardagh
179 books180 followersOver six-and-a-half feet tall, with a bushy beard, Philip Ardagh is not only very big but also very hairy. He is the author of the Eddie Dickens Trilogy and when not writing silly books, Mr. Ardagh is quite serious and frowns a great deal. He lives in a seaside town somewhere in England with his wife and their son, Fred.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 23, 2020
Before I start this review, I implore you to read this. Trust me.
If you don't, here's some thoughts.
The trilogy consists of Awful End, Dreadful Acts and Terrible times, three books, that, though related in characters and writing style each have their own quirks.
Awful End was written in letters sent to Ardagh's nephew and is thus a bit chaotic and episodic. The chaos actually works well in this crazy, world. The jokes are largely based on everyone in Eddie Dickens' world aside from himself being complete nutjobs (sometimes malevolent, sometimes benevolent) and a lot of (meta-)narratological shenanigans that sometimes make me wonder what child would like this (answer being what's left of my internal child).
This style of narratological twists and turns grows to new heights in Dreadful Acts. But from the structure of the story, the two couldn't be more different. While the listener ducks under a table trying to avoid pun-shrapnel and various kinds of self-referrential debris, Ardagh makes fun of their inability to follow what in god's name is going on and employs a lot of setup-based jokes, the joke mostly being that you lost track of something or someone in a particular situation, for which the narrator subtly calls you stupid. Despite this begrudging feeling of being outsmarted by a children's book, I enjoyed this one the most.
Terrible Times on the other hand (if you had three hands) takes a step back from joke-salvos and just lets the strangeness of the story develop. The trcik here is that a lot of the story happens while you're waiting for it to start.
There should be more adults reading children's novels and it's exactly for these kind of fun little intricate machines of novels which boast levels of hilariousness I haven't seen since A Light Fantastic. Read this, give it to children in your circumference and then steal it from them because it's to good for their small minds.
If you don't, here's some thoughts.
The trilogy consists of Awful End, Dreadful Acts and Terrible times, three books, that, though related in characters and writing style each have their own quirks.
Awful End was written in letters sent to Ardagh's nephew and is thus a bit chaotic and episodic. The chaos actually works well in this crazy, world. The jokes are largely based on everyone in Eddie Dickens' world aside from himself being complete nutjobs (sometimes malevolent, sometimes benevolent) and a lot of (meta-)narratological shenanigans that sometimes make me wonder what child would like this (answer being what's left of my internal child).
This style of narratological twists and turns grows to new heights in Dreadful Acts. But from the structure of the story, the two couldn't be more different. While the listener ducks under a table trying to avoid pun-shrapnel and various kinds of self-referrential debris, Ardagh makes fun of their inability to follow what in god's name is going on and employs a lot of setup-based jokes, the joke mostly being that you lost track of something or someone in a particular situation, for which the narrator subtly calls you stupid. Despite this begrudging feeling of being outsmarted by a children's book, I enjoyed this one the most.
Terrible Times on the other hand (if you had three hands) takes a step back from joke-salvos and just lets the strangeness of the story develop. The trcik here is that a lot of the story happens while you're waiting for it to start.
There should be more adults reading children's novels and it's exactly for these kind of fun little intricate machines of novels which boast levels of hilariousness I haven't seen since A Light Fantastic. Read this, give it to children in your circumference and then steal it from them because it's to good for their small minds.
September 5, 2012
This is a hilarious trilogy where Philip Ardagh introduces us to Eddie Dickens and his crazy family, his parents, Mad Uncle Jack and Even Madder Aunt Maud with her stuffed stoat called Malcolm. The three books are Awful End, Dreadful Acts and Terrible Times, all of which can be read individually without depending on the other, but there are references to earlier events so to read all three in the right order is the best approach! Ardagh talks as narrator to the reader throughout the trilogu so there is plenty of scope for discussing the writing of novels and role of narrator. The books are very funny; he takes events in unexpected directions. These are excellent books for expanding the imagination, being creative, following crazy routes of thought. Alongside this there is extensive and skilled wordplay - Ardagh tackles many features of language in a playful way that's easy to engage with. It would be easy to explore the origins of words, different meanings of words and sayings with these stories. He also introduces all sorts of themes which would be fun to follow up - the origin of policeman, the fire brigade, Dalton's disease and so on and so on.
February 27, 2013
There are three books in The Eddie Dickens trilogy, Awful End, Dreadful Acts & Terrible Times. And all three of them are hilarious & awesome.
The characters are fabulous and middle graders will adore all of them. Eddie is the main character and he’s so sweet. He’s very caring and likes adventures. Mad Uncle Jack and his wife Madder Aunt Maud are crazy. Seriously, insane, but very funny in their actions. Eddie is also very patient, because I would lose my wits around Madder Aunt Maud. Eddie’s parents don’t play a big role in the first book, but I quite like them. They are both just as insane as the uncle and aunt.
All three of the adventures are fantastic & some scenes are laugh out loud funny. It was impossible to put the book down, even for a couple of minutes.
If you like middle grade books, read The Eddie Dickens trilogy.
The characters are fabulous and middle graders will adore all of them. Eddie is the main character and he’s so sweet. He’s very caring and likes adventures. Mad Uncle Jack and his wife Madder Aunt Maud are crazy. Seriously, insane, but very funny in their actions. Eddie is also very patient, because I would lose my wits around Madder Aunt Maud. Eddie’s parents don’t play a big role in the first book, but I quite like them. They are both just as insane as the uncle and aunt.
All three of the adventures are fantastic & some scenes are laugh out loud funny. It was impossible to put the book down, even for a couple of minutes.
If you like middle grade books, read The Eddie Dickens trilogy.
September 16, 2018
(Book 1) This is the best book I've read all year. Would give it more than five stars if I could. Really funny and clever. The school has it on their year 6 recommended reading list. I can see why. What a fab way to learn about the Victorians. I'm going to buy the rest of the trilogy.
March 26, 2020
Absolutely some of my favourite underrated books as a child. For kids who like A Series of Unfortunate Events, here's some more vaguely Victorian-era nonsense to entertain them for a while.
August 17, 2020
Trying to take an objective view as someone who isn't the target market makes me think this would be more interesting if I was 10 years younger
May 20, 2021
Wunderbar absurde Trilogie - aber wenn man nach dem ersten Teil schon aufhört zu lesen, verpasst man auch nichts.
June 18, 2021
A ridiculous series. I laughed so much at the dark, dry, yet somehow childish humor.
July 6, 2023
So strange but so good!
January 13, 2022
4.5/5 - This book has been a wonderful surprise, even if it took me four years to pick it up after I bought it. Above all, I'd say this is an extremely funny and amusing story, apart from completely bonkers! It can be read pretty fast as a lot of things go on and you're never bored. What I liked the most about it was the narrator and the way the reader is led throughout the story. It's just great! I also enjoyed the fact that the author included interesting facts about history and science in a very interesting way. I didn't think my first read of 2022 would be this good, but I'm thrilled!
April 16, 2015
Hilarious! these books are some of the very few books that make me laugh out loud, literally. It is really fun to read Philip Ardagh's books.
If you are bored, if you don't know what to read next, Philip Ardagh is a fun choice.
Eddie (aka Jonathan, and sometimes known as Simon)seems to be stuck with his weird family; Mad Uncle Jack, Even Madder Aunt Maud and Malcom, the stuffed stout (or was it Sally?)
Gibbering Jane living under the stairs, and Dawkins, who is sometimes called Daphne.
This book is just.. Hilarious. Funny. and full of surprises.
If you are bored, if you don't know what to read next, Philip Ardagh is a fun choice.
Eddie (aka Jonathan, and sometimes known as Simon)seems to be stuck with his weird family; Mad Uncle Jack, Even Madder Aunt Maud and Malcom, the stuffed stout (or was it Sally?)
Gibbering Jane living under the stairs, and Dawkins, who is sometimes called Daphne.
This book is just.. Hilarious. Funny. and full of surprises.
October 2, 2013
Omg this was awful! Maybe I just didn't get the humour but I was sooooooo annoyed all the way through. Maybe it was supposed to be completely irrelevant but I detested every page of it!! I will not read anything by this author again!
September 12, 2014
This book is about a boy was framed and ended up in prison. He got out but it is an interesting tale of how he gets out.
I thought it was good, but the author did a lot of explaining.
I recommend this book to anyone who liked the first book, or anyone who likes humor and action-adventure.
I thought it was good, but the author did a lot of explaining.
I recommend this book to anyone who liked the first book, or anyone who likes humor and action-adventure.
September 28, 2014
Whimsical, populated with utterly demented characters, fraught with peril and peppered with asides, these are charming and clever books. the individual volumes are quite short, so a collected edition like this is a better bet for a really extended reading session.
July 27, 2014
Very silly, very nice :)
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews