"In this tongue-in-cheek take on classic themes in children's literature, the four Willoughby children set about to become "deserving orphans" after their neglectful parents embark on a treacherous around-the-world adventure, leaving them in the care of an odious nanny"--Title verso page.

Orphaned sisters Sabrina and Daphne are sent to live with their mysterious grandmother, Relda Grimm, who lives in a town in rural New York State that experiences an extraordinary number of unexplained and unusual crimes. In this book, the girls are pitted against a giant who has been rampaging through town. But who set the giant loose?

Fifteen-year-old Miss Penelope Lumley, a governess trained at the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, takes the three Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place to London, England, and learns they are under a curse.

Fifteen-year-old Miss Penelope Lumley, a recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, is hired as governess to three young children who have been raised by wolves and must teach them to behave in a civilized manner quickly, in preparation for a Christmas ball.

"Determined to break the wolfish curse that is threatening her charges and their unborn baby sibling, Miss Penelope Lumley takes a seaside holiday in the hope of gaining answers from an aging mariner"--WorldCat.

Dear Reader, if you have not read anything about the Baudelaire orphans, then before you read even one more sentence, you should know this: Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are kindhearted and quick-witted; but their lives, I am sorry to say, are filled with bad luck and misery. All of the stories about these three children are unhappy and wretched, and this one may be the worst of them all. If you haven't got the stomach for a story that includes a hurricane,...

Dear Reader, if you have picked up this book with the hope of finding a simple and cheery tale, I'm afraid you have picked up the wrong book altogether. The story may seem cheery at first, when the Baudelaire children spend time in the company of some interesting reptiles and a giddy uncle, but don't be fooled. If you know anything at all about the unlucky Baudelaire children, you already know that even pleasant events lead down the same road to misery....

After his grandfather dies, Andrew Hope inherits a house and surrounding land in an English village, but things become very complicated when young orphan Aidan shows up and suddenly a host of variously magical townsfolk and interlopers start intruding on their lives.

Unhappy Penelope Lumley is trapped in the perpetually miserable village of Plinkst, where she anxiously wonders how she will get back to England in time to save the Ashtons.

In this compilation of two separately published works, J.D. locates two more of his "cousins", the descendents and relations of the people whose body parts Doctor Frankenstein used--and he also encounters vampires, werewolves, the Invisible Man, and the relentless Fran, who wants to recreate her father's experiments.