Lauren Child does it again in this book of Hubert Horatio Bartle Bobton-Trent, a young genius who saves his family from going bankrupt living their lavish lifestyle. The title itself is so typical of Lauren's style in that it is one name, so dramatized. It's usually in the author's fashion to emphasize and dramatize words, sayings, illustrations, and more... so this one is definitely similar to her others in that way. I do recognize that among all of the books that she writes, she usually incorporates some learnable theme into them. Her topics are always directed to relatable situations or teaching lessons to children (finances, recycling, etc.) ( )

Hubert Horatio's parents were known to be very rich. They lived in such a huge house that whenever Hubert would walk to his parents' room to say goodnight, his cocoa would be cold. However, things started to take a terrible turn when all of Mr. and Mrs. Bobton-Trent's workers started to quit. They were not being paid! Thank goodness that Hubert and his friend were born brilliant children, for they decided to figure out all of their financial issues. However, the Bobton-Trents had to sell their home. They moved into an apartment, and finally, Hubert's cocoa wasn't cold by the time he reached his parents' bedroom to say goodnight. This story is trying to portray the theme that being rich does not make a person happy. The second to last page sums up the entire story by saying, "And Hubert relaized that being frightfully, frightfully, rich was not frightfully important to his parents after all." Sometimes losing everything allows us to be able to find happiness. ( )

Hubert and his family were so rich. They lived in a mansion with countless rooms, flights and flights of stairs and more living space than three people could ever need. They thought they had the best life possible and were pretty content with their lives. They held extravagant parties, had maids and chefs waiting on them night and day and still had family game nights. Their life seemed perfect until they realized they were out of money. Hubert did everything he could to save his family's financial state and for a minute he did but of course they blew it again. When they lost all their money they were forced to re locate into a smaller house, and for the first they found the true meaning of life and realized money does not buy happiness. Being close to family buys happiness. For the first time in his life Hubert was able to make his hot cocoa then walk to see his parents without it turning cold! I really liked this story and its theme. It is true, money cannot buy happiness. ( )

Child genius Hubert Horatio Bartle Bobton-Trent's parents are "frightfully rich", love to throw parties, and play board games. When their money funds begin to run quite low, it is then up to Hubert Horatio to help save them all. This is a charming story that has a good message that family is more important than money. The illustrations and word play are typical Lauren Child style. The words zig zag across the pages, and she uses several different fonts and sizes. ( )

This book starts with same letter word play and continues to use other types of wordplay throughout the story. The story is told using large scale detailed drawings with text arranged in and around the pictures.
Hubert’s biggest challenge is to save his parents expensive lifestyle and mansion.
No matter what he does, he cannot save his parents from themselves. The more they earn the more they spend. Once his biggest fear is realized, he learns that not being frightfully rich is not frightful at all.
The pictures in the book would keep children coming back repeatedly. ( )