The Serendipity of Flightless Things

November 8, 2019

Gr 4-9-A captivating family legend lies at the heart of this novel set in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. Twelve-year-old Finn has been raised in equal parts by the faery stories that infuse her village, and her stern yet kind grandmother Nuala who is determined to keep Finn safe at all costs. Finn is transfixed by the tale of The Children of Lir, in which a young husband grieves for the loss of the mother of his three children by marrying her look-alike sister and having a fourth child. An unhappy family saga culminates in a good faery saving the three older children's lives by turning them into swans. Lines between reality and fantasy blur for Finn, who suspects she is actually the youngest child and her grandmother is the good faery. Unfortunately, shortly after this magnetic premise is established, the book unravels into a confusion of plot holes and inconsistencies. The last third of the story displays illogical circumstances: Finn repeatedly escapes a captor only to choose to imprison herself again, a character with a broken ankle manages to walk all over the countryside and climb up a chimney, and another character addresses someone the narrator has just told us is not present. VERDICT Not recommended. The inconsistent plot will likely end up confusing and losing young readers.-Lauren Younger, University of Dallas Library

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2019
Grades 5-8 Blending realism with traditional Irish stories and fairy lore, Moser weaves the transforming story of Finnuala, a Northern Irish girl who turns 12 in 1972. Finn lives with her grandmother (the town's storyteller) while her father fights in the Irish Republican Army. Her friends consist of Darcy, the trees, the swans, and three children whose photo is in her grandmother's locket and who appear in her grandmother's stories. Finn's great wish is to travel to Inis Eala, an island known for its swans. To her disappointment, Grandmother always puts her off, saying, You may go when you are needed there. When she lies and disobeys her grandmother, tragedy strikes and results in Finn being sent to America to live with her long-lost mother, Aoife. It's quickly apparent that things aren't right. Is Aoife part fairy? What's with her uncanny affinity to white swan feathers and the thorn trees surrounding the house? As the lines between realism and fantasy blur, Moser's rich plot and descriptive language will entangle readers in Finn's story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)