Jazzy Reviews: Tensy Farlow and the Home for Mislaid Children

It’s no secret that I love to feature child reviews on my blog, I have a whole tab of them here. Today we are joined again by MS Readathon Ambassador and book blogger, Jazzy of ‘Jazzy’s Bookshelf’.  You can read Jazzy’s complete bio here, see her blog homepage here and ‘like’ her Facebook page, managed by her mum, here.  As well as being a top reader and reviewer, Jazzy is a 2016 MS Readathon Ambassador – read more about the MS Readathon here and sponsor Jazzy here.

This is what she has to say about the readathon:

I can’t imagine what my life would be like without books. They take me to faraway lands and places where my imagination goes wild. I am about to do my sixth MS Readathon. It feels satisfying putting my passion for books towards something useful.

Through sponsorship, I can help the lives of almost 24,000 Australians suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. Every working day four people are newly diagnosed with this chronic disease. It can strike anyone at any time and the symptoms are all very different. 

In 2015 I was honoured to become an MS Readathon Ambassador. It gave me the chance to visit schools and encourage kids to do the MS Readathon. I created a website, Jazzy’s Bookshelf, held a bookstall and worked hard to help raise money for MS. The MS Readathon is something I look forward to as much every year as I do reading every day. 

Thank you for your support.
Jazzy
2016 MS Readathon Ambassador

And now….todays review from Jazzy! One of my fav books too…

Tensy Farlow and the Home for Mislaid Children by Jen Storer

I bought this book on a whim at an airport and just happened to love it. Throughout the flight I was hooked and I don’t think I noticed when the plane had landed.

THE GIST

Abandoned baby Tensy is discovered by accident by Albie Gribble. He collects the linen from the hospital doorstep and she just happens to be underneath. He cares for her while his angry and strict mother tells him to give her to a home. Later, Tensy falls into the clutches of evil Matron Pluckrose at the Home for Mislaid Children. When the Matron takes Tensy’s beloved teddy, Mr Potpan off her, the Matron’s assistant is kicked. Tensy isn’t exactly off to a good start in her new home. Rescuing Mr Potpan is one thing, but taking on a deadly water spirit is another!

THE JUDGEMENT

Author Jen Storer is a terrific writer, describing scenes thoroughly and creating very likeable and rotten characters. Even the alarm clock has a personality:

“Matron Pluckrose smacked the alarm clock with such force that it stopped        ticking. Then it gathered its senses, ground its gears and once more ticked   bravely into the future.”

I am always drawn to unlikely heroines like Tensy. She is small, skinny and has flyaway hair. She has fears like the best of us. She is bullied and not many kids like her.

Lythia is a terrifying mud woman. She used to be a guardian angel until she drove the person she was allocated to, mad. Lythia was sentenced to dwell as no more than a water spirit in a swamp-like lake.

Matron Pluckrose is the exact opposite of what you would expect from someone who works in childcare. The Matron is “like a bloodhound” when it comes to getting her hands on riches. She forces children to work for her, but they are not nice jobs and they do not get paid. The poor kids have to scrub floors, remove guts out of fish and perform other gross chores. She tries to poison people with needles before giving them to Lythia, lies and sends children to the dreaded chapel.

This book has some funny parts, such as when Matron Pluckrose goes bonkers and delivers an alarmingly loud speech. She talks in front of many important people, who now think she’s mad, which of course she is.

There are also some grim scenes like when Tensy and her friends Howard and Polly are sent to the chapel for a night. This may not sound bad, but when they meet the Wailing Widow ghost, things get interesting.

This book best suits children aged nine and up because there are some frightening scenes.

I give Tensy Farlow and the Home for Mislaid Children five bookbolts out of five.
Publisher: Penguin Group (Australia)

ISBN: 978 0 14 330437 1