Hubert Horatio Bartle Bobton-Trent

by Lauren Child

Book Overview

Boy genius Hubert Horatio Bartle Bobton-Trent-H for short- is the answer to his rich parents' prayers. He is their dear companion, their fiercest board game adversary, and their frequent guest at... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786854855
• ISBN13: 9780786854851
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 9.6" x 11.4"
• Age Range: 4 to 7 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 2

Customer Reviews

Anglophile's Delight

I have no kids of my own, but some very good friends regularly utilize me as a surrogate uncle to read books to their three girls, now aged 10, 8, and 7. Sometimes the book readings can go on for hours and through multiple books, but this book is by far the favorite of all three girls. I've probably read it to them between 10 and 20 times over the last few years. Frankly, I've never tired of the book myself. It's charming, witty, and oh so British, which is why it must be read in a British accent, all the way from its first sentence describing the Bobton-Trents as "frightfully, frightfully rich." (Who uses the word "frightfully" in America?) Maybe my renditions of this book have even infected the girls with a bit of my own Anglophilia! In America, we tend to see riches as the reward for hard work, having rejected monarchy and aristocracy some 225+ years ago. But the Bobton-Trents embody the aristocratic, presumably inherited wealth we associate with England. They spend their time playing games and hosting lavish parties, to which their pre-school son is dutifully sent an embossed invitation just like the other guests. All is merry until the money runs out, and their brilliant son has to rescue them because they haven't got a clue. Hubert Horatio Bartle Bobton-Trent, as the book says, is a genius. Normally, I don't like children's books that make the parents look ridiculous compared to their oh-so-smart kids, but this book is so "delightful" that I barely noticed.

A Great Next Step for Lovers of Lauren Child Books

My 6 1/2 y/o grandson has loved Charlie and Lola for years. Now that he is "growing up" I thought we'd try another Lauren Child book well suited for any youngster, especially young boys. It was given along with other Lauren Child items at Christmas and is reported to be a huge success! The story is really well written and the illustrations are great! I'd highly recommend this to anyone with a grade school child or grandchild!

A Cut Above the Others; "Top Drawer" Tale of the Elite

The endpapers of Lauren Child's remarkably droll masterpiece hints at "Chutes and Ladders," the venerable kids' board game where players jump ahead by landing on squares with ladders, and fall behind by landing on those with chutes. It's a subtle metaphor for the overarching class mobility theme that suffuses this superbly written and illustrated tale of riches won, lost, and found again. The Bobton-Trents are upper class British to their very marrow, and spend their time lavishly entertaining other upper class hyphenates; to wit, the Elfington-Learies, their "next-door-but-one neighbors, the Davenport-Martines," and the Butterworth-Trotters. (Sure, these are easy jokes, but Child's collage drawings and tone are so inventive and "spot-on" that they seem fresh.) Their baby, Hubert Horatio Bartle Bobton-Trent (aka "H.") enters this rarified social sphere, and, early on displays prodigal skills in speaking, telephoning his parents (a necessity when you live in a huge mansion, and swimming. While his parents fritter away their time, and, more importantly to the story, their money, "H." and his best friend Stanton Harcourt Saint Bernard, III have fun at their home laboratory, learn obscure Japanese words, and practice table tennis. Lauren Child's madcap interior design encapsulates their idiosyncratic, topsy-turvy lives: The mansion is all squiggly-lined opulence, andthe parents wear wild, textured clothing that matches the wallpaper, and the artsy, modernistic fixtures and decorative look like they might succumb to gravity--or good taste--at any minute. This wealth of artifice, along with the somewhat distant parent -child relationship hint at imminent decline, and that's exactly what happens: The Bobton-Trents spend more than they bring in, and all their servants except the loyal Grimson resign, and even Grimson's loyalty extends only to the next morning. When Stanton Harcourt informs Hubert that the only way out is to sell the manor, Lauren Childs poses the melodramatic questions like the narrator midway through a Rocky and Bullwinkle episode (to which the entire book owes a certain resemblance). "His parents loved their beautiful mansion. How would they ever cope if they ever found out they were no longer frightfully, frightfully rich?" "What would happen to Grimshaw?" "And in any case, where would he put his table-tennis table?" There's a temporary reprieve when the sporty Bobson-Trents parents every Chinese checker, Scrabble, and Boggle contest they enter, but these good-natured twittish couple soon part with their money. In a too-rapid denouement, the whole family moves to a very tall and much cheaper house right in the city. The parents find more practical ways of enjoying their eccentricities, and Hubert is relieved when he discovers that his parents can live without a fortune, and that he can actually walk to the now-closer parents' room without his cocoa getting cold. Fortunately, `Bobson-Trent' doesn't ask that you take the plot

We love Lauren Child

My daughter loves Lauren Child books. I thought this one was a bit long for my 4 year old, but she really likes reading it and she listens the whole way through. It is not my absolute favorite Lauren Child book, but I still gave it 4 stars because it is a good story with a good moral at the end.

What is important?

This book is fantastic. Fun illustrations and shaped text make reading this book especially exciting. Its the story of a very clever boy who tries to save the family fortune but discovers that money isn't so terribly important as family. A great lesson is learned, the story is delightfully and humorously told, and the hero is very charming, resourceful, and endearing. A note to Kindergarten/ 1rst grade teachers: This book makes a great resource for themes on money.