The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

Starred review from March 14, 2011
Originally published in serialized form online (where it became the first e-book to win the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy), this glittering confection is Valente's first work for young readers. 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. An omniscient narrator
relates the absurd Fairyland adventures of 12-year-old September from Omaha, Neb. Valente seems more interested in crafting the individual episodes, and her narrator's moral observations thereon, than in September's overall quest to retrieve a witch's spoon from the terrible marquess of Fairyland. Homages aboundâan echo of Tolkien here, a cameo by Lord Dunsany there, and a nod for Hayao Miyazaki, too, all without feeling derivative. It's an allusive playground for adults, but even though young readers won't catch every reference, those who thrill to lovingly wrought tales of fantasy and adventure (think McCaughrean or DiCamillo) will be enchanted. And though the pace is lackadaisical, it's just as wellâit's the sort of book one doesn't want to end. Ages 10â14.

Starred review from April 1, 2011

In this modern fairytale, an insouciant, "somewhat heartless" 12-year-old girl from Omaha visits Fairyland and accepts a quest to rescue its inhabitants from the rule-mad Marquess. September's father's in the army, and her mother works a factory shift. When the Green Wind arrives at her kitchen window and invites her to Fairyland, the "ill-tempered and irascible" September eagerly accepts. Soon she's flying on the back of the Leopard of Little Breezes, while Green Wind warns her she may be "ticketed or executed, depending on the mood of the Marquess," if she tramples on any rules. Also, she must be prepared to make sacrifices and she must never tell her true name. After solving a puzzle, September passes into Fairyland, encounters myriad fantastical creatures and meets her soon-to-be helpers, a red dragonlike Wyvern and a blue jinnlike Marid. When the Marquess co-opts her to retrieve a magical sword from the deadly Worsted Wood and holds the Wyvern and Marid hostage, September sacrifices everything to save her friends. 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. (Fantasy. 10-14)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

May 1, 2011

Gr 4-8-Once upon a time in Omaha, NE, a child named September is visited by the Green Wind and spirited away to Fairyland on the back of the Leopard of Little Breezes. Things are not going well in Fairyland, where the evil Marquess holds sway. She asks September to retrieve an item for her from the autumn lands, where there is "always cider and pumpkin pie...and it is always Halloween." September is hesitant to aid the Marquess in her plans for Fairyland, but the offer provides her an opportunity to help friends she has met on her journey. While this book is written in a sophisticated, adult storyteller's voice, with many asides directed at (presumably adult) readers ("you must remember from your own adventuring days how harsh a task lies before her..."), there is no denying that it possesses a surfeit of imagination. Along the way September meets a bookish Wyvern, a herd of wild bicycles, and even pieces of 100-year-old household furniture that can think and act for themselves. Think The Phantom Tollbooth (Random, 1961) crossed with The Wizard of Oz infused with the absurdity of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Does this book rise to the level of a classic in the same way as these three books? Perhaps not, but the payoff, when all is revealed, will give readers an immense degree of satisfaction. Juan's black-and-white illustrations appear as headings for each chapter and nicely convey the strange and dreamlike quality of the proceedings. Having previously been published online, and having already won a couple of major awards, this book should have a built-in audience.-Tim Wadham, St. Louis County Library, MO

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2011
Grades 5-8 *Starred Review* When the Green Wind offers to whisk young September from her dull home in Nebraska off to Fairyland, she jumps at the chance and onto his flying leopard. Once in Fairyland (a self-aware mashup of surreal otherworlds from Wonderland to Oz to Neverland), she makes fast friends with a wyverary (the offspring of a dragon and a library); runs afoul of the wicked little girl Marquess, who rules the land with tyrannical poutiness; and traipses about in a loosely plotted series of merry, harrowing, and just plain weird adventures. September herself is a standard-issue fairy-tale fish out of water, ever flummoxed and begging pardon but given to sharp outbursts of pluck in pluckworthy situations. The setting, however, fairly bursts at the seams with darkness, wonder, and oodles of imaginative quirks, while Valentes busy and at times intrusive narration is thick, thorny, and stylistically vigorous. Chapters are headed by Juans dreamy, stubby-figured drawings and a wry look forward (In Which September Enters the Worsted Wood, Loses All Her Hair, Meets Her Death, and Sings It to Sleep). The rich, dense vocabulary presents some tricky footing, but for readers like September, who read often and liked it best when words did not pretend to be simple but put on their full armor and rode out with colors flying, this book is quite simply a gold mine.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)