Splendors and Glooms

January 1, 2013

Gr 4-8-Set in a Dickensian London, Davina Porter is the perfect narrator to capture the nuances of the characters and the time period in Schlitz's exceptional Victorian fantasy (Candlewick, 2012). Listeners will ache for the orphan children, Lizzie Rose and Parsefall, when they come up with money after pawning a watch. Should they have a proper meal and see the marionettes, or spend the money on practical items they so desperately need? Will they be able to hold onto it long enough to realize either option? The privileged Clara has been kidnapped and transformed by the evil puppet master Grisini. He gained his power from the witch, Cassandra, who desperately needs a child to steal the fire opal that fuels her magic, thereby saving her from a fiery death. Grisini offers up his charges, not realizing that they have discovered the puppet Clara. Parsefall believes it is the missing girl, and Lizzie Rose can't quite deny it. When Clara's father sees Parsefall using the puppet, he confronts the children who performed with their master on his daughter's birthday. Threatened by the possibility of police, the children flee. Cassandra's promise of an inheritance and money for the train arrive just in time. If and how the three children can save themselves will keep listeners enthralled to the very end. Porter's deliberate pacing intensifies the drama and her talent with accents broadens the portrayals. A not-to-be-missed gothic thriller.-Janet Thompson, Chicago Public Library, W. Belmont Branch, IL

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 2, 2012
Anyone who thinks marionettes are creepy will have that opinion reinforced by this dark tale about three children at the mercy of an unscrupulous puppeteer and the witch who pulls his strings. Clara Wintermute asks her father, a wealthy doctor in 1860 London, to hire Professor Grisini and his Venetian Fantoccini to entertain guests at her 12th birthday party. Clara is stagestruck by the puppets and taken with one of Grisini’s two assistants, the pretty, well-mannered orphan Lizzie Rose (the other assistant, Parsefall, is an urchin straight out of a Dickensian workhouse). After the puppet show, Clara disappears. Grisini is suspected, but he, too, vanishes. The fate of the three children becomes intertwined with Grisini’s old flame, the witch Cassandra Sagredo. It’s a fairly complicated plot, and although the pacing occasionally lags, Newbery Medalist Schlitz (Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!) delivers many pleasures—fully dimensional children, period details so ripe one can nearly smell them, and droll humor that leavens a few scenes of true horror. A highly original tale about children caught in a harrowing world of magic and misdeeds. Ages 9–13. Agent: Stephen Barbara, Foundry Literary + Media.