Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms: Magic, Mystery, & a Very Strange Adventure

By Lissa Evans

Enter a wonderful world filled with real magic, mystery … and danger.
As if being small for his age and also having S. Horten as his name isn't bad enough, now 10-year-old Stuart is forced to move far away from all his friends.But on his very first day in his new home, Stuart's swept up in an extraordinary adventure: the quest to find his great-uncle Tony--a famous magician who literally disappeared off the face of the earth--and Tony's marvelous, long-lost workshop. Along the way, Stuart reluctantly accepts help from the annoying triplets next door… and encounters trouble from another magician who's also desperate to get hold of Tony's treasures.
A quirky, smart, charming page-turner, Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms will enchant young readers--as well as teachers, librarians, and parents.   Long-listed for the Carnegie Medal (2012) and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize (2011)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sterling Children's Books
• Release date: Apr 3, 2012
• ISBN: 9781402798450

Lissa Evans

Lissa Evans has written internationally bestselling books for both adults and children, including Crooked Heart, Old Baggage, and Their Finest Hour and a Half, which was made into the feature film Their Finest. Her books have twice been longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. She lives in London with her family.

Reviews for Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms

[sleeplessinsimi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Stuart Horten is small for his age and to make matters worse he was given a name that “could be written down as S. Horten” and anyone could see that given his stature and unfortunate name he could very well be nicknamed Shorten. That is OK, because Stuart’s life is good he has a great house that he has lived in all his life, a tree house, a bike and tons of friends. But all that is about to change when his mother who is “a doctor (not the sort who stitches up bleeding wounds, but the sort who peers down a microscope)” lands a new job in Beeton; which just so happens to be the town his father was born in. Now, Stuart is forced to move away from all his friends and the only house he has ever lived, and if that weren’t bad enough he has to do this at the start of summer vacation! So what is a ten year old boy to do with all this time on his hands and no friends? If you are Stuart, you happen upon an adventure. One morning Stuarts father, who is “a writer (not of films or of bestselling books, but of difficult crosswords)”, asks Stuart if he would like to go on a “brief perambulation” and it was on this short walk that Stuart learns of the family business, Horten’s Miraculous Mechanisms and of his Great-Uncle Tony’s “lost legacy.” And when Stuart finds “eight threepenny bits” and a secret note meant for his father hidden in one of his father’s mechanisms given to him by his uncle, Teeny-Tiny Tony Horten, it sets up Stuart for the adventure of a lifetime, whereby Stuart will make both friends and enemies. I loved this little book! This wonderful book, also being short in stature (one of the undersized type paperbacks), is 270 pages packed full of excitement. The characters were great, we did not see much of Stuart’s mother, but you still got a great sense of who she was, and Stuart’s dad…oh my, I loved him and his large vocabulary! My thirteen year old son is going to love that character. Oh and the bit where Stuart says he should just have a question mark tattooed to his forehead so every time his dad says something he could just point to it… I could see this so clearly in my mind. Stuart’s neighbors, triplet girls named April, May and June (clever naming *grinning*), run a little newspaper and at first are nothing more than pest for Stuart, but later play a vital part in finding his great-uncle’s hidden workshop before it is too late.This book brought on a case of nostalgia and sent me back to my childhood; a more carefree time, where we kids were outside all day during summer, bike riding for blocks and making adventures. Not coming home till the streetlights came on and sometimes, on rare occasions, having magnificent night time excursions.Although this is a book geared towards middle-schoolers, I highly recommend it to everyone! I received my Advanced Readers Copy of Horten’s Miraculous Mechanisms from a Library Thing member’s giveaway. I hear the British title was Small Change for Stuart… which, in this girls opinion, is a much better title.

[kraaivrouw · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms is a charming read. It manages to combine elements of some of my favorite American books from childhood - Encyclopedia Brown, Harriet the Spy - while managing to have a decidedly British flavor of storytelling. In its storytelling style it reminds me most of Joan Aiken with a bit of Roald Dahl mixed in. If you're thinking that this is high praise, it is. This book really delivers.Horten is a misfit kid, plopped into a new environment, and given that very best thing of all - an adventure. There are puzzles and clues and destinations and secrets and evildoers plus it's all one great big scavenger hunt. Along the way Horten gains confidence and makes friends in unlikely places. Everything wraps up into a delicious ending and the entire book was an enormous pleasure to read. Highly recommended for middle grades and up (that includes all the rest of you that really need a good kids' book to read).

[inky_fingers · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lots of fun. Well written if not hugely original.

[lmjenkins · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book, and read it aloud over several weeks with my kids, aged 10 and 7. Stuart is a real character, and his adventures kept us all entertained. We were thrilled to see that another book will be forthcoming!

[sworsnup_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An awesome quirky adventure. It's meant for a younger audience, but I thoroughly enjoy the magic and mystery.

[shayrp76 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Stuart Horten is not pleased about moving to Beeton. It’s the start of summer and he doesn’t know any kids in the new town to play with so when he discovers a note left behind by his great uncle, who happens to have been a magician, he enthusiastically goes in search and solves puzzles for the clues that will lead him to a mysterious workshop. He’s not the only one who wants to discover the secrets, and the nosy triplet sisters next door are always hot on his trail making his adventure more interesting.This is such a fun read, even for someone of my age. The characters really make this more enjoyable and I want to be invited to Stuart’s house for dinner. The adventure and the puzzles do not weigh the story down but make the visualization of Stuart’s world more vivid. Of course there is a lesson in there, but it doesn’t weight the story down either. Sometimes the lessons can take the fun out of stories of this nature. I have zero complaints. I recommend this to young readers, but also to adults whose young reader is reading it. Really I recommend it to anyone.

[theepicrat · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Horten’s Miraculous Mechanisms reminds me of The Phantom Tollbooth or Coraline where a young person manages to find his or her way into some wonderful and magical adventure where anything – especially that of an unexpected nature – can happen. This was a charming yet awfully short read, and I loved watching Stuart try to decipher his uncle’s encrypted messages and learn about his family legacy in magic-making. I also enjoyed Mr. and Mrs. Horten’s quirks, especially Mr. Horten’s crossword-inventing self that would thrown in the most random of comments. I did wish that the book had spent more time on expanding on the minor characters, especially the triplets, because they came onto the page with all sorts of interesting things to say, but then left shortly without really getting too embroiled in Stuart’s adventure. Overall though, Horten’s Miraculous Mechanisms can be a wonderful discovery for a young reader with a big imagination and a love for all things fantastic.

[celerydog_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nice mystery for smart and able-readers of 7+. Loved the crossword-composer dad. Non-brits might need significant pre-reading help on setting, British culture/history and language.

[jlundgren2011 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a very enjoyable book. I particularly liked the language (the Father is a crossword writer and uses some impressively big words) and the writing. It was full of little quirks, like the triplets next door are named "April, May and June" and the main character is small for his age. His name is Stuart Horten and is nicked named "Shorten". I read this with my three children ages 4, 7 and 10. My 7 year old daughter (who is also small for her age) liked it a lot as did my 10 year old son who loves Harry Potter and wizards and magic. I found the plot ending to be sadly disappointing, but the book is well written and definitely interesting. We will definitely read the sequel.

[boundtogetherforgood · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was not a reader until adulthood. I suppose that is at least part of why I am very drawn to juvenile fiction. This book would be perfect for 8-11year olds. I really enjoyed this book. The interesting title is what first grabbed my attention in the bookstore, and the dust-cover was also intriguing. Its setting in England was also a draw, of course. S.Horten is a smart boy. When he and his parents move house he finds himself living next door to triplet girls. The mystery is intriguing and fun. I am eager to read more of the books in this series.

[hippielunatic · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As I read this aloud to my 8 year old and 5 year old, they were intrigued and amused by much of the book. I enjoyed the triplets of April, May and June, as well as the side character of Leonora more than the main character.... though the father, and the way new and advanced vocabulary is thrown into the story was fantastic, too.The mystery was compelling enough to keep even my five year old interested, though it took until we got to some of the more action-packed scenes before he started chiming in with, "another chapter, mom!"It was a fun and charming book, and wrapped up fairly well, for the kids. From an adult's perspective, there were a lot of questions that were left unanswered. Was Leonora involved with Tony, too? How does the city explain the disappearance of the mayor? What does Stuart do with the workshop? Had they been answered, though, it would have gone on too long, and lost its charm for children.While this is a more magical story than it might have needed to be, the magic helped to move the ending along just as the story was getting a bit long-winded.

[strogan_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I found Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms: Magic, Mystery, & a Very Strange Adventure to be a very charming book.Stuart Horten, the 10-year-old protagonist, stumbles upon a note left by his great-uncle which leads him on an adventure to find his great-uncle's workshop.As he searches for the workshop, he meets new people (including the triplets next door that look to be more nuisance than help at first), learns more about his family, and finds new (at least for him) mechanisms that his great-uncle had built.I liked the humor in it, the "miraculous mechanisms", the unintentional trouble Stuart gets into, and the overall storyline.I would recommend this book to readers of all ages.(Received via LibraryThing Member Giveaway.)

[ronrose1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book. It is a magical blend of mystery and just the right amount of magical adventure to keep young readers and their parents glued to the pages. The thrills and action are age appropriate for preteen readers. An exceptionally short young boy named Stuart Horten is about to have a wonderful summer adventure. S.Horten's family moves back to the town where Stuart's uncle, Teeny Tiny Tony Horten once lived and worked as a magician. Stuart finds that Teeny Tiny Tony mysteriously disappeared some years ago. With the the help of April, May, and June, the identical and precocious triplets who live next door, Stuart follows magical clues left by Teeny Tiny Tony to hopefully solve the mystery of his missing uncle. Book provided for review by Sterling Children's Books.