The Uncommoners: The Crooked Sixpence

Gr 4–6—When their grandmother ends up in the emergency room, 11-year-old Ivy and her 14-year-old brother Seb are whisked into a secret underground city called Lundinor hidden beneath streets of London. Lundinor is filled with enchanted "uncommon" objects that have special powers. Colanders filter the air, bells chime navigational directions, and carrying a candle makes a person invisible. Lundinor is also filled with traders—both living and dead—who barter with each other, trying to acquire the most useful objects. When their parents are abducted, Ivy and Seb learn some important family history involving their grandmother's unexplained disappearance from Lundinor more than 40 years before. Racing against time, Ivy and Seb try to locate a powerful object before their parents are lost forever. Jayne Entwistle's whimsical narration is perfect. Listeners will immediately be drawn to Ivy and Seb's quest for justice as they try to clear their family's name and hunt for one of the most powerful uncommon objects of all.