Book Review: What-the-Dickens

What-the-Dickens
by Gregory Maguire

What-the-Dickens is a 2007 Cybils nominee.

The food is gone, there's no power in the house, their parents are gone, and a terrible storm rages outside. But Dinah, Zeke, and little Rebecca Ruth are in good hands with twenty-one-year-old cousin Gage to take care of them. It's not that Gage is any good in a disaster - he can't start the generator or find food. But what he can do is tell a story to pass the time. And such a story! Gage tells the three children a story about an orphan skibbereen named What-the-Dickens.

Skibbereen are usually hatched in large groups, so when What-the-Dickens hatches alone in an old tuna fish can, he has no one to teach him the language or the ways of the skibbereen. He doesn't know that skibbereen are tooth fairies, or that they never allow themselves to be seen. What-the-Dickens sets off into the wide world to find a place where he belongs. One adventure leads to another, as he encounters a human, a cat, a bengal tiger, a family of birds, and an old woman. He learns a little more from each encounter, until finally he meets a colony of skibbereen. But his experiences have led him to grow in ways that make him different. Is there a place in the rigidly hierarchical skibbereen society for a free thinker?

I really didn't think I was going to like this book. "The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy," the cover proclaims. Tooth fairy? The idea just didn't seem all that interesting to me. Boy was I wrong. This is so much more than a book about a tooth fairy. It's about love and home and finding your place in the world. It's about non-conformity and free thinking and imagination. It's about belief and faith and magic and miracles. It's about the power of Story (with a capital 'S'). It's a book that grabs hold of you and doesn't let go.

What-the-Dickens' early adventures reminded me of the little bird in P.D. Eastman's classic Are You My Mother?, so when What-the-Dickens finally arrives at the skibbereen colony and he asks an older skibbereen, "Are you my mother," I was delighted. The whole book is packed with references like that, to everything from A Wrinkle in Time to Gone with the Wind. While the references were fun, I'm not sure that that the 10- to 13-year-olds who are the target audience for this book will pick up on many of them. (Many will probably pick up on some of them, such as the Wrinkle in Time reference, but how many preteens today have read Gone with the Wind?)

One of the best things about the books is the characters, from ten-year-old Dinah, conflicted between her parents' strict teachings and her own sense of wonder, to What-the-Dickens himself, whose childlike innocence makes him appealing, but who, like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, is a lot more intelligent than people give him credit for.

My one complaint about this book is the stereotyped portrayal of homeschoolers. Why must homeschoolers in fiction always be strict evangelical Christians trying to shelter their children from the world? We homeschool, and none of the homeschoolers we know are even remotely like the stereotype. I have no doubt that there are homeschoolers like that out there, but if you were to believe the portrayal of homeschoolers in fiction, all homeschoolers would be reactionaries hiding from the world.

What's the deal with Fairies?

Last week, lectitans asked, What's the deal with fairies?
Why do these creatures captivate our imaginations so? Since I've read 3-1/2 faerie books in the last week (and I have an ongoing fascination with the fey) I wanted to try my hand at answering.

I think part what makes fairies so interesting, even more so than other fantastic creatures, is that they are so similar to us and yet so different. Although the faerie come in many varieties, they are often humanoid, and sometimes look very much like humans. They live in societies like we do, but their societies are based on very different rules. That makes them fascinating and exotic.

Also, dealing with the folk carries with it an element of risk, since they can behave unpredictably (at least to us). You could end up with a valuable gift, or you could be killed or kidnapped for hundreds of years. Even that valuable gift may end up having different results than you expect. So there is a certain excitement in dealing with them, which makes them good fodder for stories.

Finally, I think there's something very appealing in the idea that there is a hidden world or hidden folk just around the corner, if we could only see them. It appeals to our sense of adventure.

And, who knows? Maybe that hidden world does exist. I know that there are rational, intelligent people today who still believe that faeries are real.

Book Review: Wicked Lovely

Wicked Lovely

by Melissa Marr

Aislinn has the Sight; she can see the faeries all around. It's a genetic trait that she inherited from her mother and her grandmother, who raised her when her mother died. Grams drilled the rules for survival into Aislinn: don't look at the faeries, don't speak to them, don't attract their attention. If the fey know that you can see them, they may blind or kill you.

So when two faeries actually approach Aislinn and talk to her, she's justifiably alarmed. But the danger is greater than even she imagines. For one of the faeries is the Summer King, who has chosen her to test to be his queen, a test with dire consequences for failure. The Summer King has been bound by his mother, the Winter Queen, who is a kind of supernatural version of Mommie Dearest. The Summer King's powers are limited by this binding until he can find his true Queen, but any girl who fails the test is doomed to be subject to the Winter Queen until the next candidate tries. All Aislinn wants is a normal life, but she finds herself trapped in a situation with no good outcome possible.

I have to confess that reading Wicked Lovely immediately (minutes!) after reading Holly Black's ironside, at first it seemed like a pale imitation. Aislinn even digs her fingernails into her palms just like Black's Kaye does. However, as I continued reading, the book drew me in and became a fascinating book in its own right. Melissa Marr's story is unique and surprising and quite delightful. The plot has some surprising twists, and the characters are interesting, including a sizzling love interest.

Note: I originally posted this review late Saturday night at the end of the 48-hour book challenge, and I don't feel that I did the book justice. So I've gone back and edited the review to beef it up a bit.

327 pages

Book Review: ironside

ironside: A Modern Faery's Tale

by Holly Black

As Roiben's coronation as King of the Unseelie Court approaches, Kaye is uncertain where she stands. She doesn't feel like she completely belongs in either world, faerie or human, and she's not certain where she stands with Roiben. The Unseelie Court sees her as a liability and an inconvenience, and they tolerate her only for the sake of their new King. Goaded by some of the Unseelie Court, Kaye publicly declares her love for Roiben and he gives her an impossible quest to prove her love: find a faerie who can tell an untruth. If she succeeds, Kaye will be his consort and sit by his side; if she fails she can never see him again.

While Kaye seeks for something that doesn't exist, she and Corny, who is conflicted after his experience in Faerie, along with Luis from Valiant, are drawn into the impending war between the Seelie and Unseelie courts. The devious Silarial, Queen of the Seelie Court, is determined to rule both courts and will stop at nothing to triumph over Roiben.

Like Tithe and Valiant, ironside is a dark and compelling book. Even if I hadn't been reading it for the 48-hour book challenge, I probably would have read it straight through; it's a hard book to put down. Black is brilliant at showing how the faeries can be both horrifying and seductive, often at the same time. But where Tithe conveyed the horrors of the monsters of Faerie, this book is more about the monster within. It's also a great twist that the Queen of the Seelie, or Bright Court, is devious and cruel, while the King of the Unseelie, or Night Court, is a compassionate faerie who struggles to "be like ice" as is required of the Unseelie King.

ironside is definitely my favorite of the series. Holly Black is a gifted writer and I hope that she continues to write YA fantasy.

323 pages

Book Review: Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer

Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer

by Laini Taylor

Magpie isn't like other faeries. Accompanied by her band of crows, she travels the world, capturing devils that the unwitting humans have released from the bottles in which they've been imprisoned for thousands of years. But when she finds an empty bottle with a broken seal bearing the sign of Magruwen, the Djinn King, she knows that this is no ordinary devil. For Magruwen himself to have sealed the bottle means that its occupant must be powerful. And indeed, the horror that has been unleashed on the world is a monstrous shadow known as the Blackbringer, which devours everything in its path. Magruwen and the other Djinn withdrew from the world millennia ago, and the magic of the faeries has diminished over the years. Magpie and her friends are all that stands between the world and this new horror.

It's hard to describe Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer in a way that does it justice. Start with a richly imagined world, add a heroine who is not only courageous but obsessed, stir in a bunch of other interesting characters, and throw in some stuff about dreams and the relationship and responsibility between a creator and his creations, and you've got a potent mix.

Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer is a wonderful book on many levels, but at its core what really makes it work is the interactions between the characters, especially between Magpie and the other characters. Magpie is astonishing in her stubbornness, her determination, and her devotion to her friends. She's a young woman on a mission, and she's not going to let anything stand in her way, even her creator. One of my favorite scenes has her facing off against the Djinn King, creator of the world, in a like-father-like-daughter type contest of wills. The other characters in the book are equally interesting, including a young man who overcomes his physical limitations in surprising ways, and matches Magpie in personal heroism.

434 pages

Book Review: Unicorn Races

Unicorn Races
by Stephen J. Brooks
Illustrated by Linda Crockett

Sparkly. Purple. Unicorns. Oh, my! Unicorn Races is a gorgeous picture book that will delight any imaginative young child. Each night Abigail leaves her bed, dons her favorite princess dress, and rides her noble unicorn to a clearing in the woods, where she officiates at the unicorn races. The unicorns come in all different colors, and the races are also attended by elves and fairies. After the race, everyone dines on a feast of cakes and cookies and sundays. What's not to like about this book? It has everything a child could wish for: a nighttime adventure, lots of magical creatures, and a feast of sweets. The gentle story is accompanied by beautiful, richly-hued illustrations of fairies and elves and brightly colored unicorns. And sparkles - lots of sparkles. My favorites are the tiny fairies who appear on every page. In one early illustration, a fairy is shown exiting a doll house and being chased by the cat. The book has a quality feel to it - even the cover is soft and padded. This is a book that is likely to become a favorite, treasured book to be read again and again.

Book Review: The Light-Bearer's Daughter

The Light-Bearer's Daughter
The Chronicles of Faerie, book 2

by O.R. Melling

When Dana's father tells her that they are leaving Ireland and moving to his homeland in Canada, Dana is shocked and upset. Besides the normal concerns about leaving friends and moving to a strange place, Dana doesn't want to leave Ireland because she worries that her mother, who disappeared when Dana was three years old, won't be able to find them in Canada if she ever comes back. Then Dana meets an unusual lady in the forest, who promises Dana her heart's desire if she will carry a message to the faerie second-in-command, the King of the Mountain who is trapped in a mountain by his own grief. Although Dana fears going into the wilderness alone, she's willing to take the challenge if it means that she will get her mother back. Dana faces many dangers in the mountains, not least of which is the evil demon pursuing her in the guise of a human. Only her spirit and her determination to find her mother will help her reach her goal. But what Dana finds in the mountains may not be what she expected.

Like its predecessors, The Hunter's Moon and The Summer King, The Light-Bearer's Daughter is a beautifully written book that deals with the relationship between the mortal and faerie realms. Where The Summer King had a theme dealing with death, The Light-Bearer's Daughter deals with the pain of separation from loved ones. It also has a strong environmental theme, which, while I agree with it, gets a little heavy-handed at times. The cast of characters is interesting and well-rounded, both the humans and the various denizens of the Faerie realm, from a powerfully maternal wolf to the delightfully childlike boggles. Many readers will see the ending coming—the title practically gives it away—but knowing what Dana will find makes it no less poignant when she does.

Each book in this series stands alone, and The Light-Bearer's Daughter is no exception. Each book has a different protagonist and a separate story. The Light-Bearer's Daughter is a little more strongly tied to The Summer King than that book was to The Hunter's Moon, but one need not have read the other books to have read this one. Melling did that intentionally, because she hates to pick up an interesting book and then discover that it's a later book in a series.

One interesting tidbit is that Melling says that there is a book behind each of her books which inspired that book and is its soul. For the Light-Bearer's Daughter, the book behind the book is Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles.

Also, see our Interview with O.R. Melling from last year.