“The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making” by Catherynne M. Valent

With a lot of Lewis Carroll, a little L. Frank Baum and clear homages to C.S. Lewis and Tolkien, it is easy to see why so many reviewers are enamored with the literary quality of this little book, but also why it has taken dedicated readers to delve in and enjoy it.  Told in the third person with a narrator who steps out of the action to make arch comments (a la Kate DiCamillo and Lemony Snicket) this is the tale of “September,” a precocious 11 year-old living in Omaha, Nebraska.  Unhappy with the state of things (her father has gone off to war, her mom works in a factory doing mechanical things) she longs for adventure and something different.  By page two of our book, she has been whisked away by the Green Wind and his Leopard to go to “Fairyland” – a place neither here nor there, but very much everywhere.  The adventures are plentiful, with each chapter titled to indicate the struggles of the moment, as in “Chapter II, The Closet Between Worlds … In Which September Passes Between Worlds, Asks Four Questions and Receives Twelve Answers, and Is Inspected by a Customs Officer.”  The book is rich in allusion and symbolism, drawing heavily on the works mentioned above and on philosophy, religion and folklore.  At 247 pages, it should have been a fast read, but it was not.  The vocabulary is not only high-level, but the sentence structures dense, forcing the reader to slow down their reading to fully appreciate the weaving of the story.  There are known mythical creatures and others that seem to be the fanciful creations of the author.  For those with mild OCD, such as myself, it is a challenging book, since almost every inanimate object encountered has a personality, name and story (the opening of the book has a listing of “Dramatis Personae”).  There is even a creature made of bits of leftover soap mashed up together -- that character nearly stole my heart.  I enjoyed this very rich book, but didn’t relish it initially – the unfortunately side-effect of talking “about” September is that it can take a while to warm up to her.  According to the narrator, the girl is a “somewhat heartless” child.  Like all fantasies, however, September makes boon companions of odd folks who cross her path and her loyalty to them ended up endearing her to me a bit.  The ending also had a twist or two I didn’t see coming, which was refreshing.  The artwork, by Ana Juan, is quite delightful, and clearly designed to evoke memories of John Tenniel’s original artwork for “Alice in Wonderland” (more in substance than style).  In any case, the images complement the story well, and heighten the emotional tone of each section.  While the book deserves the chatter it has received, I’m not sure how to market it.  The character is 11 but much like “Alice in Wonderland” this isn’t really a child’s book.  There are bloody battles here and there and a kind of patience required to meander through … a quality not typically present in our current teen population of Millenial Multitaskers.  Even the title is arch.  September doesn’t spend most of the book in a sailboat circling Fairyland, as one would presume; rather, the title uses a chapter or two in the tale as a metaphor for the child's internal journey.  In many ways, the story is a throw-back to a time when delving into a book like this was a whole experience in and of itself.  Hopefully, a sensitive reader or two will seek it out and talk it up to their friends.

“Splendors and Glooms” by Laura Amy Schlitz

People seem to think that the Victorian era was all about wholesomeness and light, given the image of a very “proper” Queen and the proclivity at the time to change the endings of Shakespeare’s tragedies.  As this brilliant novel shows, the Victorian times were really about filth and degradation and darkness and death, and particularly about DRAMA.  There is actually a hilarious exchange, early on, when one character “plays out a scene” with a housekeeper having a fit.  Remember … this was the Industrial Age, replete with shadowy figures like Jack the Ripper, Jekyll and Hyde and a Christmas story which begins with a horrific ghost.  With faint echoes of “Seraphina” by Rachel Hartman and Cornelia Funke’s “Thief Lord” this rich and complex book includes a witch named Cassandra, dying of old age, and perhaps magic (“Magic always comes with a price” – sayeth the producers of OUAT); a puppet master named Grisini, whose very name evokes “greasy”; an orphaned girl named Lizzie Rose; her workhouse companion, Parsefall; and a sad little rich girl, Clara.  Taking the title from the Shelley poem, “Adonais,” the novel weaves storylines in ways you almost never see coming and has writing that is mature and layered.  There are enough description to paint a detailed picture but the narrative is in no way dragged down.  Rather, it sucks you in.  Take this example:  “…the frozen lake reflected the colors in the sky:  gray and lilac, pale rose and flaxen yellow.  The trees on the shore cast deep shadows onto the ice, rimming the lake in black.”  A literary delight, the author employs many devices that other writers are unable to pull off – such as a constantly changing point of view – but is deft and careful with her tale, spinning it out in a way that makes you feel as if you are there.  I did spend much of the book somewhat confounded.  “What is this about, and where is it going?” I wondered, but with a delicious sense of anticipation.  It is one of those rare books where I simply had to know what happened next, but was unwilling to see it end (it is, thankfully, NOT a part of a series).  With little actual blood, there is morality here.  In discussing the loss of one of the villains, Ms. Schlitz writes that the character “was a monster, but she would not deny him the hospitality of a grave.”  Fascinating to read that on the same day as the headlines blare that no cemetery in the U.S. will give the body of suspected terrorist Tamerlan Tsarnaev a place to rest.  It made me think, but then, this is a book that does that.  With a complex vocabulary and a childlike but chilling cover, I’m not sure who might pick it up.  That’s a shame.  This 2013 Newbery Honor was hands down one of the best books I’ve read this year.  Make the time and escape into a truly wonderful story.