Literary Quote of the Month

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies," said Jojen. "The man who never reads lives only one." - George R.R. Martin, A Dance With Dragons

Friday, April 29, 2011

First Lines... The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland

"Once upon a time, a girl named September grew very tired indeed of her parents' house, where she washed the same pink-and-yellow teacups and matching gravy boats every day, slept on the same embroidered pillow, and played with the same small and amiable dog. Because she had been born in May, and because she had a mole on her left cheek, and because her feet were very large and ungainly, the Green Wind took pity on her and flew to her window one evening just after her twelfth birthday..."
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente with illustrations by Ana Juan being released May 10th, 2011!
Originally this was a fictional book within a book! In Catherynne M. Valente's book The Palimpsest. "a part of the protagonist’s childhood, a strange novel for children written in the 1920s, about a young girl spirited away to Fairyland by the Green Wind, and her adventures there..." People began asking if the book existed, and finally much to everyone's delight Catherynne wrote it! The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland also won the 2009 Nebula/Andre Norton award for best children's literature (this is a scifi/fantasy award). I recently received an Advanced Reading Copy of this book in the mail and am so excited to read it! The illustrations are beautiful that head each chapter too! Expect a review soon...

3 comments:

BurtonReview said...

I snagged this one too, hoping that I could share it with my daughter. Alas, she's 9, and still loving Kitty Kazoo type books. She wasn't nearly excited as I was when I received this one. I love the tidbit you gave about the book within a book, it is that much MORE intriguing to me now!

Anonymous said...

My daughter and I started reading this one last night. So far we're really enjoying it.

Marg said...

I didn't realise the provenance of this book. I downloaded it because I have previously enjoyed one of her earlier books, but haven't read Palimpset yet.

FSB Media Book Blogger Directory
my read shelf:
Suzanne's book recommendations, favorite quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists (read shelf)
First To Read
Reviews Published
Professional Reader
Challenge Participant