Unpleasantness at Pendleton Hall (Isobel, Augustus, and a Very Small Elephant)

This is an excellent choice for a children's chapter book. The story is engaging and well told. When our heroine, Isobel, and her animal companions set out on their mission to rescue Isobel's father, the story is part mystery, party action-adventure, and they meet a cast of unforgettable characters along the way. Maybe it was just that the setting is England and the central character is a child that talks to animals, but I kept thinking all the way through the story that this is a great Winnie-the-Pooh alternative. The characters are just as charming as anything A.A. Milne produced (and I say that as a huge fan of Winnie-the-Pooh), but we get to enjoy the backdrop of an urban London setting rather than the woods, and there's a certain satisfaction in having a girl on centerstage of the story rather than a boy. Highly recommended.