As you can probably tell from the subtitle, this book is a hilarious adventure that most readers will love! Emmaline lives in India in 1894 until her parents feel the time has come to send her to boarding school, and they decide to follow a friend's recommendation and send her to"the strictest school in the world." Emmaline travels to England to live with her Aunt Lucy till school begins, and while she is there, she has time for her favorite pasttime: building flying machines. Although she loves to build the machines following the plans of her great-great uncle, she is too afraid to try flying them herself. The problem is solved by the arrival of a young boy, Rubberbones, who can fall from great heights without getting hurt. They enjoy many attempts at flying until it's time for Emmaline to enter school, which turns out to be more of a prison.
This book is made even better by illustrations by Bill Slavin. If you enjoy this book, there are others in the series, which I haven't read.
