*The Fairy Tale Trap by Emily Casey

Where I Got the Book From: Author gave me code to receive a free eBook via Smashwords

In Short: adventurous, funny, heartwarming

If you know me well, I have a penchant for retold fairytales.  Honestly, who doesn't?  The story telling formula of girl meets boy, one (or both) of whom is royalty, and girl and boy fall in love is so universal and speaks to everyone in some way--in fact, it is so ubiquitous and so close to the heart of every human being, that, after mankind got tired of compiling such stories in the nineteenth century, it started making its own spins on them, changing and tweaking or even adding onto them during the twentieth century and lasting well into the twenty-first century.  Hey, Disney made a whole franchise out of it.  So it seems fairy tale retelling is here to stay.

And a good thing, too.  If fairy tale retelling didn't exist, we wouldn't have a stash of soundtracks from Disney flicks (ssshhhh....).  Gail Carson Levine, Robin McKinley, and Shannon Hale wouldn't know what to write (well, okay--they're geniuses, and they've written non-fairy tale retellings before, so they'd still figure out something, but imagine a world with no Ella Enchanted or The Goose Girl!  Take that and sing it, John Lennon).  Drew Barrymore would have been out of work in 1997 when she could have been filming Ever After.  And don't even get me started on other writerly folks like Jessica Day George and Juliet Marillier.

But thankfully, there are fairy tale retellings.  And we will never tire of them.  So when I heard about Emily Casey's The Fairy Tale Trap, the premise of the book definitely appealed to me.  What fun!  A "Beauty and the Beast" (my second favorite fairytale--the first is "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" which is basically the same thing but with a polar bear and lots and lots of snow) retelling, but with a modern-day girl thrown into the story.

The heroine, Ivy Thorn, is a military brat just trying to settle into the home she and her mother have just moved into while waiting for her father to return home.  But moving is the least of Ivy's problems--when she's thrown into the tale of "Beauty and the Beast" against her will by a completely creepy and almost dictatorial pixie, things can only turn out to be more complicated.  A mysterious spell, the enchanted prince (enchanted meaning, of course, in beast form), and the eponymous pretty gal continue to haunt Ivy as she makes her way through the tale, seemingly for the pure enjoyment of the pixie who just loves to throw monkey wrenches into the story to make the situation all the more twisted for Ivy.

The Fairy Tale Trap could be easily described as a mixture of Enchanted (but set backwards, with a twenty-first century girl thrown into a fairytale) and Spirited Away, with its strong female lead who must use her strengths if she wants to return home.  (Both are fabulous movies, by the way, if you've never seen either.)  I'm usually very critical when authors of fiction write novels about characters thrown into odd situations, as quite often, writers fall into the "that-character-would-never-think-or-act-like-that" or "things-would-never-work-out-that-way" follies of literature.  However, Ms. Casey did a wonderful job portraying not only Ivy's emotions, but also how a young girl not too keen on fairy tales would react to being practically kidnapped and tossed into the plot of one.  Ivy is a character readers will root for, as she's strong, smart, and, dare I say it, snarky (we love snark!).  Ms. Casey is at the moment writing the follow-up to this novel, and I'm eager to find out what will become of dear Ivy!  (As a side note: hooray for a person-of-color starring in a fantasy novel, much less a fairy tale retelling!  As a POC myself, I find it pretty rare to find them in YA--so kudos to Ms. Casey for making Ivy one!)

Red Flags: This was a very clean book--a bit of blood mentioned once, and a few (rather comical) scenes regarding bodily functions (maybe not a good idea to eat while reading those! ;) ), but otherwise completely clean.

Grading
Plot: 10/10
Characters: 9/10
Writing: 8/10
Originality: 10/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Overall: 47/50

Tidbits
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Middle Grade Fiction, Fantasy
Fun Links:

• Official Emily Casey website and blog
• Book trailer for The Fairy Tale Trap
• Sample pages from the first chapter

The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall

Where I Got the Book: My paperback copy is from Barnes and Noble

In Short: idyllic, charming, simple


The Penderwicks is an "it book"--one of those books you hear about all over the place because every prestigious book reviewer in the blogosphere or in review journalism is praising it, talking about it, comparing it to every great classic ever made (for example, I would say The Hunger Games is an "it book". I would like to say that Harry Potter also is one, but I consider it more of a mass phenomenon than simply an "it book". As widespread as The Penderwicks or HG is, I don't think they're quite to the degree that HP is at). Although I've always had a huge fondness for MG books, the real reason I sorely wanted it was because of another book--one that The Penderwicks had been constantly compared to: Half Magic.

As an elementary schooler, I was that kid who was obsessed with Harry Potter, Roald Dahl, and Edward Eager. I had read all of Edward Eager's books and, just as I am with Shannon Hale's novels now, recommended Half Magic to all of my friends (and very few have or did ever read it, if any did). To this day, I still think Eager's books influenced me as a reader in my tastes and as a writer in what I tend to write. So when many of my friends and tons of blogs that I read couldn't stop talking about Jeanne Birdsall's book, I knew I simply had to read this. I hadn't touched an Eager book in years, but I was certain this would be a delight.

I was right...but I think my expectations were a little too high for this book. Or maybe I've just aged. I'm not quite sure which, but I couldn't enjoy it as much as I did an Eager book or an Eleanor Estes novel. The feel, the mood--yes, that was familiar. The plot was vaguely similar, though perhaps with more of the adolescent troubles than would have been found in Half Magic.

The Penderwicks starts off very much like an Eager or Estes book: four sisters--so extremely realistic that they could be your neighbors--go on vacation over the summer with their widower father at a rented cottage called Arundel. Within the time span of three weeks, the sisters, each completely different from the next, undergo various Estes-esque adventures: Rosalind, the eldest, is trying to gain maturity and be more of an adult than she truly is; Skye, second eldest but the Penderwick sister with the quickest tongue of all that she simply can't seem to hold; Jane, the idealistic bookworm always off on literary adventures in her head; and little Batty, whose adorableness and innocence make her exactly your run-of-the-mill Estes "baby of the family". Joining the Penderwick girls in their mad schemes is Jeffrey, a boy whose mother has over-the-top expectations from her son, a kid who really only wants the simple and carefree life (or at least summer) that other children like the Penderwicks have.

A National Book Award winner, The Penderwicks is a fun, light summer read for Eager, Estes, and Nesbit fans, young and old alike. (As a random side note, I think those who will love this will relate wholeheartedly with Jane--she makes so many delightful literary references, and literary references + me = nerding out literary fangirl ;) ). I would definitely give this a shot if you're a fan of any of those authors; it may not be quite as beloved to you as Half Magic, Ginger Pye, or Five Children and It may be, but it's still a nice, quiet read for the interested bookworm. Not a favorite of mine, but I'm still excited to read the next books in this unfolding series.

Red Flags: To add to CSM's warnings, Surprisingly, there was perhaps a thing or two that was very vaguely hinted at, but it will easily fly over young readers' heads and can be very differently interpreted. Nothing to worry about, but a little odd, nonetheless.

Grading
Plot: 9/10 (wavers, just like an Eager or Estes book, but no direct plotline)
Characters: 7/10 (I really wanted to love all of the characters--and I simply love Jane--but Rosalind sometimes got on my nerves)
Writing: 10/10 (the writing style is not bad, and irons out the quirks that I always found odd in Eager's and Estes's works)
Originality: 10/10 (how many books nowadays do you see in the ilk of beloved authors of the fifties and sixties?)

Enjoyment: 9/10
Overall: 45/50

Tidbits
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Juvenile Fiction
Original Release Date: June 14, 2005

*Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Where I Got the Book: I actually own two editions of the book; after I heard about the movie, I got an older version (paperback) from Amazon, but much later(as you will read a little later), a friend got me the copy (also paperback) that you see to the left.

For the past fifteen years (going on sixteen, in May 2009) of my life, I have been a huge Hayao Miyazaki fan. So of course, when Oscar season rolled around back in 2006 and I heard that a new Miyazaki movie was nominated, I was dying to watch it. Without having seen it, I bought it almost immediately from Amazon. I don’t mean to segue into a whole topic about Amazon and its awesomeness, but thanks to that site, I’ve made some amazing discoveries. One of them was the book that Miyazaki made an adaptation of. The book sounded amazing, so obviously I stuck it in the cart along with the movie. Sadly, after the first two or three chapters, I abandoned the little gem until I decided to pick it up again when my pal from Wise Review left me a copy on my doorstep as a Christmas present (nota bene: Wisdom of Youth is a friend of mine whom I met when I was in the eighth grade). And then, reader, I began the most fascinating, the most intriguing, the most hilarious, and the most magical journey around Ingary in Diana Wynne Jones’s Howl’s Moving Castle.

“In the land of Ingary, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of three.” For Sophie Hatter, it is just her luck to be born the oldest child out of three daughters of a hat shop-owner. So with this common belief in mind, she is certain that between her and her sisters Lettie and Martha, she will have the most miserable fate. As if that didn’t hurt Sophie’s self-esteem enough, Sophie’s father dies, leaving Sophie to become an apprentice of the hat shop. While she stays home trimming hat after hat, her sisters go off to seek their fortunes in pastry shops and apprenticeships with witches. Sophie’s destiny seems to be sealed to be terrible after her father dies and she is forced to become an apprentice of the hat shop and do mind-numbing hat trimming while her sisters go off to seek their fortunes. As if Sophie’s destiny isn’t sealed to be miserable enough, the infamous Witch of the Waste, for reasons unknown to Sophie, turns her into an old woman. Having aged more than seventy years, Sophie heads off to better her life and stumbles upon the treacherous Wizard Howl’s moving castle, where she strikes a bargain to rid her curse with a fire demon named Calcifer, befriends Howl’s fifteen-year-old apprentice Michael, and stands up to the notorious wizard himself! So many questions pop up that you want answered, and these keep you on the edge of your seat turning page after page, just dying to find out what happens next.

First of all, if you are a Miyazaki fan and are thinking about reading this book, keep this in mind: someone wrote a Book-a-Minute version of the story, Miyazaki read it, and changed it in his own way. Alright, so maybe that’s not what really happened, but it sure feels like it; the only thing that is the same between the book and the movie are Sophie’s and Howl’s names (and even “Howell” was not mentioned in the movie), and Sophie’s curse. That’s about it, just keep the movie and book separate. As for my thoughts on the book itself? Read below.

Pros: Everything about it! The characters were amazingly real, including their many flaws; the plot is breath-taking; and the integration with John Donne’s “Song”? Definitely a work of a genius! It takes the poem to new heights and new meanings.

Cons: Sometimes the writing seemed too elementary for me, but perhaps it was because I had just finished Shannon Hale’s The Goose Girl right before starting this one. Also, I feel like the book wrapped up a bit too fast—so fast, in fact, that the romance (hint hint) didn’t realistically develop (and yes, I know it is in the fantasy genre, but social and behavioral situations can still be realistic!).

Red Flags: Ehh…none that I really remember, though it’s been awhile. It seems that this book is all clear with Common Sense Media as well. :)

Grading:

Plot: 10/10

Characters: 9.5/10

Writing: 8/10

Originality: 10/10

Enjoyment: 10/10

Overall: 47.5/10

Tidbits

Genre: Fantasy, Juvenile Fiction, Young Adult Fiction

Original Release Date:

Also Recommended:

• The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley
• The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
• Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

Check It Out!

• Diana Wynne Jones’s official site
• Official page for the Castle series

I have just recently found out that Diana Wynne Jones is currently suffering from cancer. Please pray for her, or if you are not religious, please keep her in your thoughts. Thank you.

*Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

Where I Got the Book: Bought the paperback version from Barnes and Noble in 2007.

Everyone who has been or is a teenager has to admit it: one of the most trial times of your life is in your mid- and early teens. If you think about it, these are the times when you have the most conflicts in your life--those with family, friends, neighbors, and probably the greatest, with yourself. Young adult fiction writer Shannon Hale takes a look at these same conflicts. Though the main character of the novel Princess Academy lived in an entirely fictional, made-up time and place, she faces, accomplishes, and learns the same things that we have done and do. If you haven't read this novel yet, it's about time you pick it up the next time you visit the library or bookstore. There is much to learn this wonderful tale of young adulthood. Miri Larendaughter has been living in Danland's quarry mountain village, Mt. Eskel, for all her fourteen years. While her widower Pa and older sister Marta head to the quarry to carve out the valuable linder, Miri tends her family goats, as she is forbidden from quarry work. She is convinced that she is of no use to the village, until, one day, it is announced that Mt. Eskel is the home of the Prince's bride, and all young ladies, from 12 to 17, are to be taught and disciplined in an academy. Here, Miri encounters several obstacles, including the cruelty of their tutor, Olana, and the unkindness of the other academy girls. Tutor Olana teaches the girls reading, writing, conversation, poise, and diplomacy to name a few, but her discipline is harsh, as she slaps the girls' palms at the slightest misbehaviors, and locks them in a dark closet if they stand up for themselves. Miri learns her own gifts, and is especially recognized by Prince Stefan himself. But does Miri really want to marry the prince and become a lowlander for life, or should she stay in her mountain village where here childhood friend is? I LOVE THIS BOOK!!! Although it is a work of fantasy, all is brought to life by the fantastic lyrical writing. There is a reason why this is a Newbery Honor book, though I personally believe that this should have won the Newbery Medal.

Pros: The writing, the characters, the setting, the quarry songs at the beginning of every chapter--everything about this book is wonderful.

Cons: Honestly can't think of any, except maybe the title might seem irksome to a few who will stay away from it thinking it's a fluffy, princess-y or fairy book. If you've read other reviews, you'll be sick and tired of hearing that it isn't. I'll be the one-thousandth person to tell you it's not.

Red Flags: As stated by Common Sense Media, a teeny-tiny bit of violence: fighting, murder, and a death. Nothing terribly graphic though.

Grading

Plot: 10/10

Characters: 10/10

Writing: 10/10

Originality: 10/10

Enjoyment: 10/10

Overall: 50/50

Tidbits

Genre: Fantasy, Juvenile Fiction, Young Adult Fiction

Original Release Date: July 6, 2005

Also Recommended:

• The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
• Half Magic by Edward Eager
• The Legend of Holly Claus by Brittney Ryan

Check It Out!

• Shannon Hale's blog, Squeetus
• The official page on Shannon Hale's site