Alex and the Ironic Gentleman
Written by Adrienne Kress
Narrated by Christopher Lane
4/5
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About this audiobook
Often mistaken for a boy because of her haircut and name, Alex Morningside is an inquisitive girl of ten-and-a-half who attends the prestigious Wigpowder-Steele Academy. Unfortunately, though she loves to learn, Alex just can’t bring herself to enjoy her classes. Her teachers are all old and smelly and don’t seem to know about anything that has happened in the world the past thirty years, and her peers…well they are quite simply ridiculous.
Luckily for Alex, the new school year brings an exciting new teacher. Mr. Underwood makes lessons fun and teaches her how to fence. But Mr. Underwood has a mysterious family secret—the swashbuckling and buried treasure kind—and not everyone is glad he has come to Wigpowder-Steele. When the infamous pirates of a ship called the Ironic Gentleman kidnap Mr. Underwood, Alex sets off on a journey to rescue him, along the way encountering a cast of strange and magical characters, including the dashing and sometimes heroic Captain Magnanimous, Coriander the Conjurer, the Extremely Ginormous Octopus, and the wicked Daughters of the Founding Fathers’ Preservation Society.
Adrienne Kress
Adrienne Kress is a graduate of the University of Toronto and has studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. Her work has been performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, among other venues in Canada and the UK. Following in her family tradition, Adrienne has also been a drama teacher, focusing on eight-to-twelve year olds.
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Reviews for Alex and the Ironic Gentleman
76 ratings8 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I liked the plot. I even quite liked some of the characters. But the storytelling really annoyed me. The narrator constantly broke the fourth wall with "Oh, I forgot to tell you" constructs and frivolous not-funny jokes. And there was an excess of telling instead of showing.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I couldn't do this one. Narrative voice trying to be funny and just ends up, to my ears, awkward and childish. Tried it a second time by starting in the middle of the book, which was better. Improved once the narrator got out of the way. Looked like she had some fun ideas, though.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was a really funny book that I really enjoyed it. I took all my self control not to burst of laughing while reading it in class. It was a great book for people 8-80 boy and girls all people of all shapes and sizes. I really loved it and would recomend it to everyone.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alex is an independent, smart ten year old who lives in a small town with her uncle. When a new and different teacher comes to her school her life is soon turned upside down as she learns he is the heir to a pirate treasure. When he is kidnapped Alex has to put her ingenuity to work to rescue him from the world's most deadly pirate.The tone and style of the book reminded me a of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. It was filled with quirky characters and sly references (Alex tracks the ship to both Port Cullis and Port Wine). I hear this movie may be made into a movie and if done right it will be excellent. In the meantime, I will hope for a sequel!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great read, way fun for kids. A 10 year old girl goes off on her own adventures, meets a talking octopus, a soul-stealing train, crazy old ladies who seem to have her on GPS, and finally, pirates and treasure! Lots of fun.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kress has a very unique and engaging style of writing. (Had me chortling throughout the whole book.) Although, there are some...SOME times when it does get a bit tiresome and predictable. The characters are indeed larger than life, but I didn't fully acknowledge that until I came across the octopus.But as another reviewer pointed out, Kress seems to be all over the place genre speaking.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book was a joy to read. Very funny, with an unquestionably enjoyable main character. The book doesn't shy away from sad subjects and character growth, although it maintains its humorous tone throughout. It reminded me quite strongly of Roald Dahl's wonderful books for children, and the way that whatever happened next would be a delightful surprise. That holds true for this book, and I loved it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alex and the Ironic Gentleman is not about a little boy named Alex. Nor is it about a gentleman who uses irony. It is about Alex Morningside - who is a girl, thank you very much - and her quest to rescue her sixth grade teacher from some very nasty pirates. Along the way, Alex has one surreal adventure after the next - from a mysterious train ride where one person disappears after every meal, to a chaotic movie set where Alex must cajole the star giant octopus into acting his part, to a massive and wonderful hotel with no guests.Alex is a delightful heroine. She's always an active participant - this is a girl who knows how to make things happen, instead of waiting for things to happen to her. And her complete indifference when people assume she is a boy is refreshing. As the narrator puts it, "it wasn't that she wanted to be a boy or anything, it was simply that she didn't see much difference in being treated as a girl or boy. Because, after all, everyone is just people."Adrienne Kress has a way with words. Her delightfully droll asides can only be described as Lemony Snicket-esque. And like in Mr. Snicket's books, the narrator of Alex and the Ironic Gentleman is directly addressing the reader with witty wordplay and little bits of additional information. It's a narrative device that is charming in the beginning of the story, and really serves to draw the reader in. I was delighted to find that as the tone got a little bit grating, the author backed off. When the action really gets going, the narrative asides and bits of backstory come further apart and get out of the way of the story.This is a book with a funny sense of time and place - while it reads like a historical adventure novel, little bits of the modern world find their way into the text. The laptops and automated refrigerators felt like an anomaly in the world of the story. But in this strange book, throwing the reader for a loop is the norm - as the little old ladies of the innocent-seeming Daughters of the Founding Fathers' Preservation Society will attest.For readers who can't get enough of Alex's adventures, the next book in the series, Timothy and the Dragon's Gate, was recently released.