The Ogre Downstairs

by Diana Wynne Jones

When a disagreeable man with two boys marries a widow with three children, family adjustments are complicated by two magic chemistry sets which cause strange things to happen around the house.

• ISBN10: 0330345184
• ISBN13: 9780330345187
• Publish Date: 12 July 1996 (first published December 1974)
• Publish Status: Cancelled
• Out of Print: 14 January 2002
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Imprint: Macmillan Children's Books
• Edition: New edition
• Format: Paperback (A-Format (178x111 mm))
• Pages: 288
• Language: English

Reviews

[wyvernfriend]

This is a story about some children who have to deal with the fact that their two sets of parents have married. They live in a too-small house, the father isn't used to children and the stresses are beginning to show. When two of the boys get chemistry sets things take a strange turn as the chemistry sets turn out to be magical.

It's an interesting blend of magical and mundane and the children felt quite real. Fun and enjoyable. The beginning felt a little slow and almost lost me though but once I was a few chapters in things improved.