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Loading... The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (2009)by Catherynne M. Valente
  
Female Author (214) » 12 more Books Read in 2015 (1,137) Female Protagonist (608) al.vick-series (137) Must-Read Maine (65) Unshelved Book Clubs (121) No current Talk conversations about this book. This one has been on my TRL for a loooooong time so I'm really happy that I enjoyed the reading experience. This is the first in a series written for children about a young girl named September who gets whisked away by the wind on the back of a dragon to Fairyland. At the outset, this sounds like it will be the ultimate fantasy story to while away an afternoon but there are multiple layers to this tale and rather mature themes are explored. (As with many fairytales written for children as you well know.) For starters, this book takes place during WWII when most men are away at the Front while the women left behind are doing all the jobs that would ordinarily have been out of their reach. September is a child very familiar with this situation as her mother toils away for most of the day while her father is off fighting. Who wouldn't want to escape that for an adventure in Fairyland?! But like the old saying goes "Be careful what you wish for." because things are not quite so wonderful and carefree in this magical land. Villains, intrigue, depravity, and hopelessness are rife in Fairyland and September soon finds herself looking within for the strength to make her way back home. If you and/or the young readers in your life are looking for a new fantasy series then this is a great once to check out. (  ) AliceaP | Jul 26, 2021 |  children's fiction/fantasy (main character is 12). Dec. 2011 (print version): liked it, just not enough to keep reading--ended up abandoning in order to move on to the other things on my bookshelf. 2015 update: checked out the playaway version of the book (read by the author), and liked it better when it was being read to me (by the author) vs. having to read the text myself--sort of similar to Alice in Wonderland, a series of nonsensical adventures that the heroine somehow makes her way through. (  ) reader1009 | Jul 3, 2021 | I liked the idea but not the writing style. Some of the passages were lovely, particularly the one describing autumn, but it took me out of the narrative too much. Did love Ell though, and the lantern! (  ) CASDonnelly218 | Feb 1, 2021 | My daughter read this a year or two ago and loved it enough that she proposed it as a book to read to the family. So I read it aloud. The kids liked it, but I found it random and often hard to read aloud just because of the rhythm of the prose. It often felt like a book written to showcase cleverness about writing a book about a girl in fairyland (there's a persistent winky tone) rather than to actually move a story along in a satisfying way. It's a step above the Captain Underpants series, I suppose, but there's so much better literature for kids out there. Neil Gaiman liked it, though, so what do I know? ( ) dllh | Jan 6, 2021 | I didn't love this book, and I think it's because of the writing style, which felt to me both precocious and condescending in tone. ( ) resoundingjoy | Jan 1, 2021 |
 I won’t lie. Some folks do NOT like this book, and I can understand why that is. For me, though, this is just one of the smarter juxtapositions of the fantastical with the tongue-twisted. Here you have an author who clearly enjoys writing. And if that enjoyment seeps through the page and into the reader’s perceptions, then here is a book that they’ll clearly enjoy reading. A true original and like nothing you’ve really ever seen before. Told by an omniscient narrator who directly engages readers, the densely textured text deftly mixes and matches familiar fairytale elements, creating a world as bizarre and enchanting as any Wonderland or Oz and a heroine as curious, resourceful and brave as any Alice or Dorothy. Complex, rich and memorable. The book's appeal is crystal clear from the outset: this is a kind of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by way of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, made vivid by Juan's Tenniel-inflected illustrations. Belongs to SeriesThe Girl Who (1) Is contained inWas inspired by
Twelve-year-old September's ordinary life in Omaha turns to adventure when a Green Wind takes her to Fairyland to retrieve a talisman the new and fickle Marquess wants from the enchanted woods. No library descriptions found. 
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