Review: The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls

The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls by Claire LeGrand 

Release: August 28, 2012

Source: via Jennifer Dee's Arcycling Program

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Victoria hates nonsense. There is no need for it when your life is perfect. The only smudge on her pristine life is her best friend Lawrence. He is a disaster—lazy and dreamy, shirt always untucked, obsessed with his silly piano. Victoria often wonders why she ever bothered being his friend. (Lawrence does too.)
    
But then Lawrence goes missing. And he’s not the only one. Victoria soon discovers that The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls is not what it appears to be. Kids go in but come out…different. Or they don’t’ come out at all.
    
If anyone can sort this out, it’s Victoria—even if it means getting a little messy.

Poor Victoria. She goes through so much in The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls. 

So. Much. Creepiness.

I mean, I'm surprised I survived reading this little book. 

But despite all its creepiness (and perhaps because of its creepiness), The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls is a fantastic Middle Grade book. It's one of the best MG books to come out in recent years. 

There. I said it. 

What makes this book so special, though? What makes it stand out? The main reason: Victoria. She's a perfectly imperfect character. She is a know-it-all, a perfectionist, and she likes things "just so". Sometimes, she's even down-right rude. Think Hermione from Harry Potter, except a tad more intense.  

In the beginning of the book, we are introduced to Victoria and we're told she has just one friend. One. Rather than socializing with peers, she's constantly competing with them to be "top of the class". And Victoria is most certainly top of the class. The one friend she has is named Lawrence, and he's more of a charity case than a friend. Or so Victoria tells herself.

Until, one day, Lawrence disappears. And people start acting strange. 

It all leads to The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls. Kids go in, but never come out. And if they do come out they're...different. Subdued. Void of hardly any personality. 

Now, I won't go into all the who's and what's of this story, because that's something you should discover yourself. But I will say this: there are bugs. Lots of bugs. And what happens in The Cavendish Home is horrifying and terrible. Just thinking about it gives me shivers.  The ending gave me shivers as well.

Simply put, this book is a must read. It has everything a good book needs: a good protagonist, great plot and setting, and spectacular writing. Seriously. I am envious of Claire's writing skills. I wanna snatch them away from here right now!

But then I would miss out on all the books she has planned: both MG and YA.

I recommend this to everyone who likes there books just a little on the dark side. Now, sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite.

RATING: 5 SLICES