La fille qui navigua autour de Féerie dans un bateau construit de ses propres mains

A fun, light read. I enjoyed it, but didn't fall completely in love with the world and characters. It had some marvellous ideas like the swarms of migrating bicycles or Mr Map, but they were lightly touched upon and then swept away into the wind never to be heard of again, which is a shame because it is a rich and original world, and these creations deserve a fuller fleshing-out. The art of saying just enough and promising more perhaps, but still I did want more out of it. I initially gave it 3 stars but having looked at the other books I've given 3 stars to, it's definitely better than those.

No spoilers, but it had a more emotional ending than I was expecting, and I think the book got better as it went on and the plot developed more. Again, could have been deeper; at times it felt like a lighthearted romp, but in the background were these dire and serious perils swirling around. I suppose really I wanted a more grownup, less YA read, and it's unfair to judge it on that basis.

The feel of the book was lovely, an autumnal twilight world with glimpses and glimmers and everything dusted with sugar or magic or poison. There was a phrase that really struck home; about leaving your heart somewhere and never having it back, I felt that way for many years about my undergraduate university town. Eventually I think your heart finds its way back to you, or perhaps you grow a new one, ready to be filled and lost and found again.

We stalled about 3/4s of the way through. I thought we'd never return, but 5 or so months later we did and were happy we did. It was clever, often dark and I enjoyed the fairy-tale meta commentary (to a point). I didn't like that it was the start if a series (although the boys did). I just wanted it to end.

This is like a high-end restaurant's classy, deconstructed version of one's favorite childhood dessert: it hits all the warm and fuzzy notes that a fun, romp-like, young-adult faerie tale should, while also having very worthwhile commentary on such topics as security theatre, the advantages and lack thereof of growing up, and the importance of feeling that you have agency over your own life.

Despite trying to cover some Big Ideas, and despite having some of the best world-building I've ever read, I barely noticed either of those things until I finished, because ultimately, The Girl Who Circumnavigated [etc] is, at it's heart, a faerie tale, and it reads like one: seamless and mythic. I felt wrapped up in the plot and the characters, with some room spared to appreciate the atmosphere. It was just once I finished that I realized how novel the book was. This is the type of book that I'll want to reread over and over again, and I am completely confident that I will find more each time I do.

It's worth noting, as an aside, that Valente's work is also extremely strong from a gender perspective: she has self-sufficient, interesting female characters who have myriad personalities and goals besides romantic ones. And unlike some books that have gotten critical acclaim for strong female characters, The Girl Who [etc] stars characters who break the bookish-eager to please-sidekick mold of female characters: the titular September is brash, nosy and heartless as well as brave, inventive and persistent; her mother is a mechanic.

There are so many other positive things to say: the denouement is clever (and extremely obvious once you know it, but so brave that I never expected it to be true!) and profound and sad, all at once. There is a Wyverary - a mix of a wyvern and a library who knows everything about everything as long as it starts with the letters A-L. There is a soap golem, who of course, has Truth inscribed on her forehead, and is of course, named Lye.

It's like the Phantom Tollbooth crashed into a faerie tale and it is absolutely delicious.

But what September chiefly noticed were their hats.
Any child knows what a witch looks like. The warts are important, yes, the hooked nose, the cruel smile. But it's the hat that cinches it: pointy and black with a wide rim. Plenty of people have warts and hooked noses and cruel smiles but are not witches at all. Hats change everything. September knew this with all her being, deep in the place where she knew her own name . . . For one day, her father had put on a hat with golden things on it and suddenly he hadn't been her father anymore, he had been a soldier, and he had left. Hats have power. Hats can change you into someone else.

There's much more to be said about the true nature of seasons, sentient keys, the immorality of novelists, the thoughtfulness of smoking jackets, the desires and drives of shoes....But I'm getting ahead of myself.

So last week, I found myself on the end of a batch of pretty heavy books, and needed something light and breezy – hopefully cheery, too. So I grabbed this off my daughter's shelf (had been meaning to get around to it since I bought it for her 3 years ago). It didn't at all fit the bill for what I wanted, but thankfully was an enjoyable read about a girl named September and the improbable trip she takes to (and around) Fairyland.

Those were all big words, to be sure, but as it has been said, September read often, and like it best when words did not pretend to be simple, but put on their full armor and rode out with colors flying

The Phantom Tollbooth

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles

fun

Most people (on Amazon and GoodReads) seem to love this book. I am not one of them. In fact, if I had not decided to read this aloud to my kids (who liked it), I wouldn't even have finished this one. The story concerns a 12-year-old girl named September who is whisked off to Fairyland and makes magical friends, must deal with a fickle-minded marquess, and achieve some fuzzy-sounding goals. Whatever. I wasn't buying in for a moment. This is one of those books for which the word “twee” was invented. It seems as though the author tried very hard to combine a Alice In Wonderland vibe with a Wizard of Oz vibe. I just found it tedious. And the language used is frequently unfriendly to those with grade-school vocabularies. Sheesh. Can I tell you how much I hate that? Are you writing for kids or not? Make up your mind. Stop showing off. Yes, this author can write. But this book was frikkin annoying. I'm glad you like it, though.

4.5
I really liked this book. The writing is amazing! I loved that the narrator addresses the reader quite often. There are a lot rumbling throughout the story, which I had a bit of trouble getting used to. The pacing was a bit slow at the beginning but it worked to introduce all the craziness of Fairly land.
It reminded me of Alice in Wonderland with all the crazy characters and funny situations and of Narnia because of the way the world worked. I also really enjoyed the slight references to other characters in fairy tales.

As regards the characters, I loved all of them! September, the Green Wind, A-Through-L, Gleam (he was so cute!). September was compassionate but also brave. I liked that she admitted that she wasn't as tough as other heroes in stories but still didn't give up. A-Through-L was so adorable! I want a Wyvern like him as a friend. Iago was awesome and I kept picturing as panther version of Rajah from Aladdin. I love how Valente portrayed the relationships between her characters, even the villains.

All in all, I throughly enjoyed this book, even though I struggled a bit at the beginning.

I absolutely LOVED THIS BOOK! I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy it to start with, wondering if it would be too much of a children's book to really enjoy. I don't think the story has a specific age demographic, as it's full of fun story like, fantasy ideas and events, but also has many humorous moments which would be lost on kids. All in all I really enjoyed it.

The story follows 12 year old September on her adventure through Fairyland - where she encounters all kinds of fantastical creatures on her mission to save Fairyland from it's evil Marquess.

The storytelling is wonderful, I love the way that the narrator writes self-aware at times, acknowledging their-self as a factor in how the story is told! I love the beginnings of all the chapters which starts with a little black and white drawing and text like:

“Chapter 1Exeunt on a Leopard

In Which a Girl Named September Is Spirited Off by Means of a Leopard. Learns the Rules of Fairyland, and Solves a Puzzle“

It's fun, exciting, emotional, and a really good story. I will definitely be picking up the following books!