The Wide Starlight

December 1, 2020
A teen goes north to reclaim a lost loved one in this modern fairy tale. Eline Davis lost her mother, Silje Lund, a decade ago, not to illness or abandonment, but to the Northern Lights, which stole Silje but left 6-year-old Eline behind on the ice. After Silje's disappearance, Eline and her father left Svalbard, Norway, for the States, and Eline's seemingly enchanted childhood succumbed to mundane reality. But life in Cape Cod is upended when she learns that her best friend, Iris, has secretly been applying to out-of-town schools and that the Northern Lights will be seen in Massachusetts, farther south than ever before. Eline's modern-day quest in search of her mother alternates with her beloved stories and those of her mother and grandmother, all framed as fairy tales, until the boundaries blur. On her journey, Eline must contend with problems both practical--frostbite, polar bears, angst--and fantastic--storybook characters springing to life, a sentient wind--while also reconciling fond memories with the reality of Silje's erratic behavior, flaws, and failures. Indebted to Norwegian folktales, Eline's adventure follows a classic arc while also benefitting from modern technology. Raised and addressed to some degree is the magic-vs.-mental illness trope. Half-American/half-Norwegian Eline reads as White. With her vividly rendered settings, emotionally complex characters, and sweet and sinister magical realism, Lesperance may be a promising successor to Alice Hoffman. Sharp and snow-dusted yet strangely cozy; a comforting winter's read. (author's note) (Fantasy. 12-18)

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December 1, 2020

Gr 7 Up-Sixteen-year-old Eline Davis lives on Cape Cod with her American father. When she was little, they and her Norwegian mother, Silje, lived in Svalbard. When Eli was six, Silje took her to a glacier and whistled down the Northern Lights to take both of them away, but only her mother disappeared. Eli's felt broken ever since. Then Eli receives a mysterious letter written in Norwegian saying that Silje is close and to call her. The Northern Lights also appear over Cape Cod, so Eli tries whistling her mother back. Eli's afraid to believe it when Silje does return, not quite human. Eli starts seeing three mysterious girls in long cloaks with strange eyes skulking around. When meteorites begin falling and a pod of narwhals beach themselves on the cape, Eli realizes the longer her mother's there, the more things keep breaking down. Silje attempts to fix it and disappears again, leaving Eli a message that says, "Find me where I left you." Eli's search takes her and her father back to Svalbard to a grandmother Eli hated and the magical stories Silje used to tell Eli. This mesmerizing and sometimes heartbreaking fantasy reveals the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters while exploring mental illness, loss, regret, guilt, and forgiveness. All characters are white. VERDICT A haunting contemporary fantasy inspired by Norwegian fairy tales set on Cape Cod and on an island off Norway's coast. For fans of Emily X.R. Pan, Jaclyn Moriarty, Holly Black, Cornelia Funke, and Edith Pattou.-Sharon Rawlins, New Jersey State Lib., Trenton

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2021
Grades 8-11 Lesperance weaves the myth and magic of Norwegian folklore into a realistic setting in this wintry tale of a teen searching for her long-lost mother. Eline's childhood in Svalbard, Norway, was studded with the stories her lovely but erratic mother, Silje, told her of willful princesses, wish-granting rings, hungry trolls, and helpful winds. Her mother's magic had a darkness, though, and when Eline was six, Silje disappeared into the sky with the northern lights. Now 16, Eline lives in Cape Cod with her scientist father, and her biggest concern is the hurtful betrayal of her best friend, Iris--until she receives a note, written in Norwegian and carried on the wind, telling her how to contact her mother. Eline's quest starts with the northern lights appearing in Massachusetts and eventually returns her to Svalbard, where she embarks on a dangerous arctic journey to the glacier where her mother disappeared. This is an emotionally complex tale of the love between mothers and daughters that balances between ominous and cozy, with well-realized characters and a picturesque Norwegian setting.

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