Measle And The Wrathmonk
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''Measle and the Wrathmonk'' is a children's fantasy novel written by
Ian Ogilvy Ian Raymond Ogilvy (born 30 September 1943) is an English actor, playwright, and novelist. Early life Ogilvy was born in Woking, Surrey, England, to Francis Fairfield Ogilvy, brother of advertising executive David Ogilvy, and actress Aileen ...
and illustrated by Chris Mould. It was released in 2004 by
OUP Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
in the UK and by
HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...
in the US. It received the Georgia Children's Book Award.Past Winners of the Georgia Children's Book Award
It has been translated into at least seven languages,''The Scotsman'', 10 June 2004
/ref> and a film version is in development. The first edition was published with a lurid green vinyl cover; the author commented: "It smells like a beach ball or a lilo... It's the brightest, most seeable thing in the whole store. The next one’s going to be luminous orange." The novel was reissued by OUP in 2010 under the title ''The Train Set of Terror!''


Plot summary

A 10-year-old boy named Measle is living with his horrid guardian, Basil Tramplebone. Measle's life is horrible and boring. Basil builds a detailed train set using money that was left for Measle by his parents and plays with it, while all Measle can do is watch him. Desperate to play with it, Measle tricks Basil into leaving the house by telling him that there is extra money in the bank. His plan backfires, and Basil catches him playing with the train set when he gets home. Basil magically shrinks Measle and placed him in the train set. Measle meets Frank, the electrician who wired the train set, who is all plastic except for his mouth. Measle then feeds him some carrot, which restores Frank to his previous human-form. Frank reveals that the glazed-donut crumbs and lemonade left by Basil turn you to plastic if eaten. Together they rescue Prudence, a wrathmonkologist; William, an encyclopaedia salesman; Kitty, a Brownie scout; Lady Grant, a town official; and Kip, the carpenter who built the table and most of the train set's detail work.


Characters

Measle Stubbs – The main character in the book. A thin 10-year-old boy. He is called 'Measle' because wrathmonks enjoy confusing people by rearranging words. When his parents appear again he learns his real name (Sam Lee), but he still prefers to be called Measle. Basil Tramplebone – The villain in the book. He is a "wrathmonk", which is a warlock that has gone mad or insane. He is the legal guardian of Measle Stubbs. He is also after the money that Measle is supposed to inherit from his "dead" parents. Described as thin, tall, and has black hair that is kept on his head with black shoe polish. According to Measle, Basil never lies. Griswold Gristle – A bank manager that helps Basil claim Measle's money. Oddly looks and talks like Basil, and is a wrathmonk according to later books. Frank Hunter – An electrician who ate some of the lemonade and doughnuts, thus he was turned into plastic. Measle helps him turn back to normal. Lady Grant – A victim of Basil Tramplebone. She is a borough councillor from town hall that tried to make Basil repair his house. This caused Basil to get mad, and so, she was shrunk. She also uses the word 'revolting' often. She makes a point of being civil to everyone and polite. She claims that basil is an exception even though she knows it’s wrong to hate anyone he is an exception. She is a bit snobby such as about Measle’s unkempt appearance but generally means well. William O. Durham – A victim of Basil Tramplebone. He is a travelling salesman that tried to sell Basil expensive encyclopaedias. His foot got caught when Basil closed the door, making Basil angry, and William shrunken. He often uses tasteless jokes that no one usually finds amusing. He believes in logic and knowledge. He is very fond of his encyclopaedias and is very dismissive of anything fanciful or magic not in them. He does not believe in Wrathmonks at first for example despite literally being one’s victim. He eventually very grudgingly accepts magic exists. Kitty Webb – Another victim of Basil Tramplebone. She was a girl scout that was selling cookies, but was scared by Basil's appearance and tried to run away. Basil caught her and shrunk her. She is often afraid but can be brave. She seems to develop something of a crush on Measle. Her knot tying skills come in handy later in the book. Kip Lovell – A victim of Basil Tramplebone. He is a carpenter who made a table for Basil; however, Basil was not pleased by it, so Kip was shrunk. Kip had been there the longest so he was almost all plastic. When revived he is very practical and helpful. He seems to find moving and talking hard at first but gets better. Prudence Preyer – A victim of Basil Tramplebone. She was a wrathmonkologist, someone who studies wrathmonks, and was spying on Basil for six months but got caught one day because her dog, Tinker, had barked, causing Basil to notice them. She has a snarky sense of humour particularly towards William and his refusal to accept the obvious. Sam Stubbs – Measle's dad. He is a wizard. Lee Stubbs – Measle's mum. She is a manafount which means she, although unable to do spells herself, has an unlimited supply of mana, which is what magicians use to cast spells. This mana can be tapped into either by her husband holding hands with her or by her being eaten. (see ''Measle and the Dragodon'')


Major themes

# Little people can make a difference. # Eat your vegetables. # Looks can be deceiving. # What goes around, comes around.


Awards

* Georgia Children's Book Award


Film adaptation

On November 13, 2008,
Thor Freudenthal Thor Freudenthal (; born 20 October 1972) is a German film director, screenwriter, animator and special effects artist best known for his work on ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid'' and '' Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters''. Life and career Freudenthal was ...
set to direct the film adaptation at
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
with Robert Zemeckis was set to produce the film. A company called PRANA has since shown interest and plans to turn the book into a
Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...
type animated film.


References

{{reflist 2004 British novels British children's novels Children's fantasy novels Oxford University Press books 2004 children's books