Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

If you're looking for one of those wonderful "children's" books that works for readers of all ages, you'll most definitely want to read Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy. A retelling of the Ice Queen story, this books grasps the reader (yes, even grown-up readers) from the start and only becomes more compelling as it progresses.

Ophelia's father has been hired to curate an exhibition of swords at a museum in an unusual town where it is always winter. Ophelia's mother has recently died. Her father is burying himself in work; her sister grows increasingly distant. So Ophelia sets off to explore the museum, finding the boy of the title, then joining his campaign to save the world from the Ice Queen's domination.

Ophelia is a wonderful character. show more She's committed to the scientific method, even as events around her become less and less rational. She's vulnerable: frightened (with cause) frequently and asthmatic. Yet despite this vulnerability, she finds the courage to act bravely when necessary.

Read this book for your own pleasure and/or share it with a younger friend. Get to know Ophelia, join in her quest. You'll probably wind up hoping, as I am, that this isn't the last of her adventures. show less

Ophelia is an intrepid tween who prefers science to magic, fact to fantasy and, right now, the past to the present. The last is because her mother died a few months ago of cancer.

Her father has buried himself in his work as a sword expert, taking Ophelia and her older sister, Alice, away from their London home to a European city filled with snow. They're to spend their time ice skating while their father puts together an exhibition of the greatest swords ever gathered together.

The girls are bored as well as in mourning. Ophelia explores the vast corriors and twisty exhibit halls of the museum where the exhibition will be held. The nooks and crannies of the museum are far preferable to the company of the museum curator, a vaguely show more menacing young woman named Miss Kaminski. She may be beautiful, and her father and Alice may think she's spiffy, but Ophelia wants nothing to do with her.

Ophelia soon has her hands full with a quest. In one of the locked museum rooms, she discovers, is a boy. He has been there for a long, long time. Ages ago, the king who he was met when he was sent across the water to defeat the Snow Queen had him locked up at the behest of his new wife. As Ophelia battles fantastical things she knows cannot exist, but which do, the boy fills her in on his story.

As Karen Foxlee's new novel, Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy, picks up speed in an action-filled adventure, her heroine finds she has also embarked on a personal journey that involves honoring the spirit of her mother, a fantasy writer who loved to spin tales about frightening things. Foxlee knows just when to switch scenes to what Ophelia's father and sister are up to, when to tell the reader more about the marvelous boy and when to move Ophelia's quest forward.

One of the great aspects to this story is that it is not sad. It is filled with life and making time count. Foxlee knows how to spin wisdom into her tale with light and laughter. She also has a masterful touch at description.

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy is a fabulous fantasy for middle grade readers who love fairy tales, adventure and stories of courage and love. show less

I received Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee from Random House Kids early last week and while I was in the middle of some other books at the time, I thought I'd at least sit down and read a couple of chapters to get a feel for the book. Half the book later I realized I needed to set it aside or I wasn't going to be getting to bed at any sort of a reasonable hour that night.

Foxlee takes the fairy tale The Snow Queen and gives it a lightly modern spin. In an unnamed town, Ophelia's father has taken a job organizing an exhibit of swords at an unnamed museum, being the international expert on swords that he is. Ophelia and her sister, Alice, try to find ways to amuse themselves while their father is hard at work on the exhibit. show more Exploring on her own one day, Ophelia discovers a young boy locked away in a room deep in the sprawling museum. She befriends the boy, and the story he tells her of how he came to be locked away in the room in the museum with the name the Marvelous Boy is its own story within the story.

As Ophelia journeys through the museum on various quests to help the Marvelous Boy escape so that he can finally defeat the Snow Queen, she creates her own fairy tale. There are elements here that will be familiar with all readers of fairy tales, but Foxlee handles them all beautifully, so that you don't really feel like you are treading too familiar water. I found myself re-reading entire chapters because I simply loved the way that Foxlee was telling Ophelia's story. It's a middle grade book, so there are elements that are fairly predictable and foreshadowed rather heavily, but even knowing how the story was going to end, I still enjoyed every bit of it. There is an ethereal quality to the story that is both charming and magical. I don't want to give too much away about the ending, but I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that Ophelia doesn't try to handle everything on her own, as in other young reader books. I find that annoying. I suppose it's to instill a sense of independence in young readers, but sometimes there are things in life that are just too much for a young person to handle, and it's perfectly normal to go to your parents for help, which Ophelia does. This was refreshing for me.

I think anyone who enjoys a good fairy tale and a beautifully written story will absolutely enjoy this book. Highly recommended! show less

Ophelia would say she's not very brave. Mostly, she feels broken inside because her mother died three months ago. Ophelia's mother was the one who dreamed and wrote of adventure and heroines and danger. Now, Ophelia's father, an international sword expert, has taken Ophelia and her older sister Alice with him to a museum in a strange city, where he is arranging an exhibition of swords from around the world. While her father works, Ophelia wanders the mysterious halls and galleries of the museum. Tucked away in the far reaches of the building, she discovers a keyhole, and on the other side of the keyhole is a boy without a name, who says he's been locked away for hundreds of years. He asks Ophelia to rescue him, but it will be dangerous: show more a quest fraught with ghosts and monsters and magic, and Ophelia doesn't believe in any of those things. (Well, she's withholding judgment about the ghosts.) And she doesn't have much time, because the Wintertide Clock will chime in three days -- and when it does, the world will end. If you believe the Marvelous Boy, that is. Which Ophelia doesn't . . . at least, not yet.

I found this story engrossing. It's the sort of book that draws you into its atmosphere, until you are almost surprised to find yourself not surrounded by snow or wandering through endless corridors of mysterious displays. It's a bit predictable, but the story is less about figuring out who the Snow Queen is, and more about watching Ophelia discover that she is stronger and braver than she knows. For that, I recommend it -- though if you can wait, read it in the winter, or at least at a time when you are longing for winter! show less

Ophelia Jane Worthington-Whittard spends her Christmas holiday with her older sister at the huge and labyrinthine museum where their father is curating an exhibit on swords of the world. In her wanderings she finds a boy locked in a room, who asks her to help him escape and find his own, magical sword, which he must give to the One Other in order to defeat the Snow Queen. Ophelia doesn't at all believe in such nonsense, being a scientifically inclined young woman, but little by little, as she helps the boy, she opens her heart to the possibilities of magic, the struggle between good and evil, and her own potential for bravery. I *love* this book. I listened to the audio version a couple of years ago and knew that Charlie would love it, show more too. (And reader, he did.) It turns out that it's also a really fun book to read aloud to others. Highly recommended. show less

ARC provided by NetGalley

Ophelia Jane Worthington-Whittard doesn't believe in anything that can't be proved by science. Magic? Unicorns? Bigfoot? Science says it isn't there, so it isn't. So there! After her mom dies, her dad takes a job in a strange museum, where it always snows, and curator is a bit...off. Ophelia and her sister Alice explore the museum and on their very first day, Ophelia wanders down a few forgotten passages, goes under a velvet rope, and finds a locked door. And behind the door she finds...the Marvelous Boy. Who is a prisoner of the Snow Queen. And he's been waiting for Ophelia's help for a very long time. The two together must stop the Snow Queen before the clock chimes again...and she wins.

On the surface the show more description seems...quaint. A girl that doesn't believe in magic, who discovers a hidden boy and they must defeat an evil queen. Sounds like something from long ago does it not? But if you look past the surface you discover a story that is pure magic and is often unlike anything that you've read before.

And it all starts with Ophelia. Ophelia Jane Worthington-Whittard is one of the strongest heroines to come out of literature recently. Not because she doesn't believe in magic, or that she advocates science, but because she is very real. From the first page we can imagine Ophelia standing before us, a young girl, mourning the loss of her mother and attention from her sister and father, but staying strong. Holes in her pockets as she worries at them, full of curiosity at what's around her, and a strength and courage that defies her size and age. She's not some sheltered prep school kid, or someone that can do magic, or has an IQ of 150 and does chemistry in her spare time. She is someone that we can imagine as being our younger sister or our cousin or the girl next door. And that is phenomenal thing. While we can find plenty of strong female characters in recent YA lit, so many of them rely on other things or have tools at their disposal that we lack in the real world. Ophelia doesn't.

And while I could devote the entire review to Ophelia, I suppose I should discuss other aspects of the book. The story itself is phenomenal. Its one that keeps you turning that next page, never quite wanting to put the book down because you have to know what happens next. And even though at times you think you can guess what might happen next, Karen's tosses twists and turns in that are never quite what you expect. And I know so many stories try to teach you "don't judge a character by its cover" and it becomes corny how there's always that one character that changes...that corniness doesn't occur here. The characters feel natural, and real, and that's in part because Karen is honest and open about them from the beginning.

There's so much more I want to say, but I'm afraid if I continue I'll spoil the book and I don't want to do that. The book is described as a modern fairy tale. And that's true it is, but it is oh so much more than that as well. And it's a story for all ages. While Ophelia may not believe in magic, this book will help you find and believe in it once more. I give the book 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it to everyone. show less

When her father brings Ophelia and her sister to the city where it is always winter so that he can prepare an exhibition on swords at the museum, Ophelia only hopes to go ice-skating with her sister and perhaps observe some things that will appeal to her scientific mind. But then she meets a boy with no name who is locked in a room in the museum. Suddenly, Ophelia is pulled into helping the boy escape so that he can find the One Other and give him or her the sword that will help defeat the Snow Queen; not at all something a scientifically minded person would do.

A charming retelling of the Snow Queen, the novel has all the delights and horrors of a traditional fairy tale. While none of the twists were a surprise for me, they may be more show more shocking for the younger audience for whom the book is intended. The book doesn't shy away from heavier issues as Ophelia is dealing with the recent passing of her mother and her father's distance as he buries himself in work. However, the fairy tale elements and the magic that comes with them adds a lovely twist to the narrative. If you're looking for a more faithful reinterpretation of the Snow Queen, this is a good place to start. show less