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Summary
Summary
The young Bellweathers--fourteen-year-old Spider, thirteen-year-old Ninda, and the ten-year-old triplets, Brick, Spike, and Sassy--and their equally peculiar parents have brought constant chaos to the once-peaceful village of Eel-Smack-by-the-Bay. Still, no one has suffered more than their loyal butler, Benway, who has finally had enough. He is secretly writing his tell-all memoirs, packing his bags, and planning his move to a tropical location, Far, Far Away.
But when the siblings discover Benway is preparing to leave their lighthouse home, they band together to prove how much he's needed, as only Bellweathers can. . . .
Full of comic capers and close calls, an art heist and albino alligators, and good intentions gone wrong, Kristin Clark Venuti's hilarious debut novel introduces a new family that is absolutely unforgettable.
Author Notes
Kristin Clark Venuti wrote on many things while growing up, including her father's prized dictionary, her mother's walls, and the family dog (with blueberry ink, of course). Now a children's-theater producer, scene painter, and two-time black belt, she lives with her husband, children, and their ink-free dog in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. Leaving the Bellweathers is her first novel. You can visit her online at www.leavingthebellweathers.com.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6-Tristan Benway, a butler with stellar credentials, never felt appreciated. His work for a "lunatic-asylum" family left him agitated and yearning for his "Benway Family Oath of Fealty" to be over. Seems Horatio Bellweather saved his great-great-great-grandfather from drowning during a storm. Grateful to be alive, Nigel Benway returned the kindness by pledging to serve the Bellweathers for the next 200 years. As an unfortunate descendant serving out the final weeks of that oath, Tristan plans for the day he is released from the horrendous arrangement. He decides to write a tell-all book about his dismal life of taking care of a set of mischievous and irrepressible triplets, an activist daughter who bangs away on bagpipes and hides a circus family in her room, a son who takes in an endangered alligator and lets it roam free, a mistress whose obsession is painting the walls of their lighthouse, and a cranky professor. Then some unusual things start to happen, and Tristan reconsiders his position of airing the family's dirty laundry. Each installment of the story unfolds before he pens his sardonic take on events. The characters are pleasantly nutty, with each distinctive voice adding to the mayhem. The story's lighthearted fun promises to amuse with every turn.-Robyn Gioia, Bolles School, Ponte Vedra, FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
This amusing if flawed debut vacillates between third-person narrative and the journal entries of Tristan Benway, whose great-great-great-grandfather "pledged the loyalty and service of his descendants for the next two hundred years" to the insufferable Bellweather family. As Benway endures the final days of his contractual servitude, he comforts himself with his plans for liberation, which include moving to a place "Far, Far Away," and publishing a tell-all book about the family. In somewhat tedious and repetitive fashion, Benway recounts the difficulties of running the Bellweathers' household, especially the horror of keeping tabs on the five Bellweather children: Spider ("a lover of endangered animals... but only the sort who have the ability to poison, maim, or kill people"), budding radical Ninda, and troublemaking triplets Spike, Brick, and Sassy. Venuti has created a unique setting (the Bellweathers live in a lighthouse in the village of Eel-Smack-by-the Bay); some may find it difficult to relate to an unsympathetic, albeit well-drawn, cast of characters, but those who like humor with a slightly misanthropic bent should be entertained. Ages 8-12. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate) In this madcap debut novel, loyal butler Tristan Benway unwillingly serves the unconventional Bellweather family. In a lighthouse on a hill in the village of Eel-Smack-by-the-Bay, inventor Dr. Bellweather plots a better way to wash high-rise windows; his wife Lillian paints and repaints the walls unceasingly; their children hold circus performers captive, keep an endangered albino alligator and her babies as pets, and create chaos while making "art" with whatever inspires them. Benway is bound by the two-hundred-year-old "Benway Family Oath of Fealty" to serve this kooky family, but his obligation is finally about to expire, and he can't wait to escape to "Far, Far Away." As Benway counts down the weeks and days till GLOAT ("Glorious Liberation and Oath Abandonment Time"), he also pens a tell-all tome that promises to expose the true depths of the Bellweathers' eccentricities. A mixture of Benway's journal entries and third-person narration make the episodic text spark with humor. The ending is predictable but comforting, as Benway acknowledges his attachment to the Bellweathers and realizes that he'd rather not go far, far away after all. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Portraying the zany antics of the Bellweather family from the perspective of their staid butler, this first novel falls short of the situation's potential hilarity. A misguided ancestor pledged the Benway family to 200 years of butlering to the Bellweathers, and that era is about to end. Benway eyes retirement as the familyinventor father, wall-painter mother, Spider, the son who prefers darkness and dangerous animals, Ninda, social-activist bagpipe player, and very loud-mouthed triplets Sassy, Spike and Brickrun amok in their lighthouse in Eel-Smack-by-the-Bay. An endangered albino alligator Spider has rescued, the triplets' plot to steal the Mona Lisa and Ninda's efforts to turn a family of circus acrobats she's locked in her bedroom into union members add flavor to the brew. Character development is secondary to silliness, creating a sense of superficiality. Debi Gliori's Pure Dead books do a better job of capturing the humor of a bizarre family situation, but as the pace quickens, the Bellweather family will, at very least, amuse and may make some laugh out loud. (Fiction. 9-13) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
The Benway family has served the Bellweather family for 200 years, but now the contract's almost up and for current butler Tristan Benway, it's none too soon. After all, his ancestors didn't have to clean the chaotic lighthouse home of temperamental inventor Professor Eugene and his dreamy wall-painter wife, Lillian. Benway's final months of meeting the self-absorbed family's needs are particularly trying, what with 14-year-old Spider adopting an albino alligator; 13-year-old do-gooder Ninda secretly sheltering a runaway circus family (including a seal); and nine-year-old triplets Spike, Brick, and Sassy scheming to replace the touring Mona Lisa with their own artwork. However, as time passes, the Bellweathers and Benway increasingly find that they are viewing events and each other in new and unexpected ways, bringing perspective, appreciation, and understanding. Venuti's entertaining and humorous debut features an eccentric cast, absurdities, and droll details presented in reserved Benway's formal narrative and interspersed diary entries. Readers will find much amusement in the quirky characters and scenarios touched with heart.--Rosenfeld, Shelle Copyright 2009 Booklist