TENSY FARLOW AND THE HOME FOR MISLAID CHILDREN

A wonderful gothic adventure story about a horrid orphanage, fallen angels, wicked water spirits, and a gutsy little orphan called Tensy Farlow, who has something that everyone wants and are willing to get at all costs.

Right from the beginning, Tensy Farlow’s life is somewhat unusual. Abandoned as a baby, she is rescued both from near drowning and from the clutches of the evil mud woman, Lythia, by the bumbling but kindly Albie Gribble. Albie takes Tensy in until the ruthless Matron Pluckrose from the Home for Mislaid Children is tipped off and comes to claim her.

Determined not to be downtrodden by her cruel treatment at the hands of Matron Pluckrose, Tensy earns the grudging admiration of all the orphans and forms a tight little trio with the plucky Howard Humberstone and forlorn little Polly. But evil seems to dog Tensy at every turn, and when Polly’s sister Queenie disappears, and two angels start spying on the orphanage, it becomes clear that everyone is after Tensy and they’ll stop at nothing to get her… is there anyone who can save her?
Strong themes for classroom discussion: positive and negative energy; religion, the mythology of angels and evil spirits; souls.
Jen Storer has written many books for kids but most of them have been about serious topics such as rainforests and bones and the history of ice-cream (extremely serious). She has written three books for Penguin: Sing, Pepi, Sing and I Hate Sport (which is an Aussie Chomp and was written under her old nickname, Prue Storer). Jen's latest book is Tan Callahan's Secret Spy Files, illustrated by Caroline Magerl. Jen lives in Melbourne and works in a studio at the wonderfully gothic Abbotsford Convent.????