2/17/20
I read this purely because I had been dithering about whether or not to purchase it for school and then a student told me she bought it at the book fair and loved it.*
I think that while I probably didn’t love it as much as she did, I definitely enjoyed this. It reminded me a lot of how much I used to love old fairy tales (The Red Fairy Book, The Yellow Fairy Book, etc.) when I was a kid. There is nothing cozy about this at all. The changeling that the fairies leave behind when they steal Mollie’s adorable brother is offensively homely. The dark wood sounds cold and damp and treacherous and filled with danger. And even when the villagers aren’t in the scary fairy land, I pictured a vaguely bleak existence. I mean, they live in a place where you have to constantly beware and can’t praise a baby for being bonny. So, if you’re prepared to feel gloomy darkness, try this story! Hahn really evokes a vivid picture of this place and the people in it. I found it to be a pretty quick read and just the right amount of spooky suspense and child bravery and trickstering for young readers.
*I saw that student today and told her I read the book and liked it and she was stunned that I read it in a day as she has been reading it literally since she bought it at the book fair two months ago and still isn’t done, despite it being a book that she loves. How can you enjoy reading a book so slowly??