Bagthorpes Haunted

The Bagthorpe Saga #6

by Helen Cresswell

It's the third day of the Bagthorpes' holiday Abroad (in Wales), and they have seen no sign of the promised apparitions--no Veiled Lady, no Small Child Weeping, not even the Ring of Blue Fire. With the lack of furniture, telephone, or adequate kitchen, the family is ready to pack it in, but Mr. Bagthorpe stubbornly refuses to leave until he's seen a ghost.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Childrens, Young Adult

207 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Helen Cresswell (1934–2005) was an English television scriptwriter and author of more than 100 children's books, best known for comedy and supernatural fiction. Her most popular book series, Lizzie Dripping and The Bagthorpe Saga, were also the basis for television series.

Reviews

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Young readers 11-14 will enjoy the hilarious antics of the Bagthorpes--the most eccentric and zany family in England.

This story continues the tale of the Bagthorpe's holiday in Wales, where they attend an auction. Mr. Bagthorpe, who has had only 4 hours of sleep the previous night, inadvisadly tells the auctioneer that his secret sign for bidding will be a stifled yawn. Unfortunately, this yields him about 1400 pounds ($2800!!) worth of junk such as rusted bicycles, umbrellas that are not weatherproof; several stag heads, etc. Many other silly things happen as well, such as Mr. Bagthorpe's unsuccessful seances, and Daisy disappearing, only to be found in the huge wardrobe that was also one of Mr. Bagthorpe's unintentional purchases at the auction. Also, a flock of sheep invades their rental home.

[William Leight · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Bagthorpes Haunted” is a continuation of “Bathorpes Abroad”, picking up immediately after the previous book ended. In fact, I suspect that the decision to make them two books was handed down from the publisher: they are really one book that was simply chopped in half, with no effort to create an ending for the previous book or a beginning for this one. Thus it’s no surprise that “Bagthorpes Haunted” is also utterly hilarious, featuring a series of side-splittingly funny scenes of things going wrong, usually fairly catastrophically. In particular, Billy Goat Gruff’s reign of terror, begun in the previous book, reaches new heights here. Cresswell resolves the Bagthorpes’ utter disaster of a trip in a characteristically brilliant fashion, with a final, capping disaster. As no parts of Unicorn House are destroyed, and the Bagthorpe's rented house is in no worse shape when they leave than it was when they got there, one could even argue that this was, relatively speaking, a successful trip. Certainly this is an extremely successful entry in the series.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not original but it wasn't so bad

[Edward Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the family on holiday in Wales, and Mr bagthorpe searching for ghosts, this manages to be a bit of an improvement on the last few books, with the action moved away from home to give the series a fresh outlook.