Auntie Bea’s Day Out
by Diana Wynne Jones (1978); collected in “Freaky Families”, audiobook read by Penelope Rawlins (Clipper Audio, 2013)
A fun but insubstantial middle-grade adventure where children are dragged about by an oblivious, over-the-top adult and… magical things happen. The adult doesn’t notice. The children do, but have no agency and function merely as observers. A fairly pointless exercise in imagination.
The Four Grannies
by Diana Wynne Jones (H. Hamilton, 1980); collected in “Freaky Families”, audiobook read by Penelope Rawlins (Clipper Audio, 2013)
An irreverent middle-grade story in the Roald Dahl mode, though with not-so-horrible characters, less revelling in the mischief making, and far less of a comeuppance. Erg’s marvellous invention and his use of it tend more towards gormlessness than a proper childhood uprising.