When their parents are sent up the river” for embezzlement, Ray and Ivy are left to live in the lap of luxury with Marietta Noland and her ancient husband, Lionel. But life at the big house is not all it's cracked up to be. First there is the shrouded portrait, then there is the spider in the decaying wedding cake. And what about the vicious instrument Marietta uses to decapitate her egg? When "the rain in Spain" begins to fall (in other words, Ray wets his bed), things go from bad to worse and Ivy knows it is time to take matters into her own hands. What follows is a hilarious lark as Ray and Ivy case the joint, get the skinny, and show Marietta she has met her match.
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Carolyn Coman has won a Newbery Honor Award and a Michael L. Printz Honor Award and is a two-time National Book Award finalist. Currently she is on the faculty of Hamline University's MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults. She divides her time between New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.
Rob Shepperson lives in Croton-on-
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