Welcome to Miss Carbunkle's Home for Wayward and Misbegotten Creatures, an orphanage for young groundlings (part human, part animal) run by a cunning villainess. For lonely Number Thirteen, a shy, one-eared, foxlike creature, it is the only home he has ever known. When he meets a bird groundling named Trinket, Number Thirteen gains two things: a real name (Arthur, like the good king in the old stories) and a best friend. Trinket and Arthur escape over the high walls of the orphanage and embark on an adventure that will take them out into the wider world and to Arthur's true destiny: to become the Wonderling and save music for everyone. Rife with steampunk inventions, magical plot twists, and finely detailed illustrations, the paperback edition of Mira Bartók's debut novel is sure to enchant.

"Arthur's Dickensian steampunk world is richly imagined and gorgeously described. . . . This story of friendship, hope, and heroics will delight adventure seekers." -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)

Author/Illustrator: Mira Bartok 

Paperback, 464 pages, Ages 10-13. Publisher: Candlewick Press, October 8, 2009.