Falcon and the Charles Street Witch [Hardcover]

On her way back to New York from Australia, Falcon goes after her brother Toody when he falls out of the airplane in Falcon and the Charles Street Witch by Luli Gray. Perhaps the dragonsbreath that carries her safely to the ground belongs to her long-lost dragon pal, Egg, first met in Falcon's Egg, which PW said, in a starred review, "artfully braid[s] together real life and fantasy..
- together real life and fantasy."
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Grades 4-6--When 12-year-old Falcon and her little brother fall out of a jumbo jet, Falcon wafts down to the residence of Ms. Cholmondely (pronounced Chumley), a witch who helps her locate Toody. He has ended up in Australia with a young dragon named Egg, previously introduced in Falcon's Egg (Ticknor & Fields, 1995). The girl's efforts to fetch her sibling are complicated by Dirus, a sleepy old rhyming dragon; an accidental detour to an alternate New York City where animals talk; and the discovery of Egg by a horrified world. Except for the inexplicable airplane accident and an unconvincing confrontation with a bad guy at the end, this fantasy flows smoothly, with plenty of eccentric characters and interesting situations. Ms. Cholmondely's unique brand of slapdash magic and Egg's habit of speaking solely in mangled Shakespearean quotes will delight readers, but probably won't engage their emotions. A fun and fast read for fantasy fanatics.
Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

*Starred Review* Gr. 4-7. In Falcon's Egg (1995) young Falcon released Egg, the baby dragon who hatched under her care, into the skies over New York City. Now, a year later, Falcon and her little brother, Toody, are returning from visiting their dad in Australia when Toody's desperate need for the airplane bathroom leads them to meet up again with Egg in a most unusual way. Of course, much is unusual about this lively and unsentimental fantasy in which a witch on Charles Street in Greenwich Village works spells that go awry in pleasing ways and a dragon's fart can color sunsets for weeks. Egg herself speaks mostly in mangled Shakespearean quotes (correct ones appear at the end); distracted parents, cynical TV anchors, and a fair amount of trans-oceanic dragon travel come in for arch description. Wordplay abounds, mirth runs free, and gentle skewering is the order of the day. It will delight readers who want to know what happened to Falcon's Egg, and charm those new to the characters. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

On her way back to New York from Australia, Falcon goes after her brother Toody when he falls out of the airplane in Falcon and the Charles Street Witch by Luli Gray. Perhaps the dragonsbreath that carries her safely to the ground belongs to her long-lost dragon pal, Egg, first met in Falcon's Egg, which PW said, in a starred review, "artfully braid[s] together real life and fantasy." (Apr.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.  (Publishers Weekly )

Grades 4-6--When 12-year-old Falcon and her little brother fall out of a jumbo jet, Falcon wafts down to the residence of Ms. Cholmondely (pronounced Chumley), a witch who helps her locate Toody. He has ended up in Australia with a young dragon named Egg, previously introduced in Falcon's Egg (Ticknor & Fields, 1995). The girl's efforts to fetch her sibling are complicated by Dirus, a sleepy old rhyming dragon; an accidental detour to an alternate New York City where animals talk; and the discovery of Egg by a horrified world. Except for the inexplicable airplane accident and an unconvincing confrontation with a bad guy at the end, this fantasy flows smoothly, with plenty of eccentric characters and interesting situations. Ms. Cholmondely's unique brand of slapdash magic and Egg's habit of speaking solely in mangled Shakespearean quotes will delight readers, but probably won't engage their emotions. A fun and fast read for fantasy fanatics.
Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
  (School Library Journal )

Since Egg flew off into the night more than a year before, Falcon fears she will never see her dragon again. Her mother wants to forget that Egg ever existed and her father never believed in dragons at all. But the magic finds Falcon again. First she leaps out of a plane after her younger brother, Toody. Then, blown to safety on a current of dragonsbreath, Falcon lands in an enchanted garden on Charles Street in New York City where she is greeted by the wonderfully peculiar Blinda Cholmondely. With the help of an ancient doggerel-spouting dragon named Dirus Horribilus, the rakish Saint George, and the astonishing Charles Street Witch, Falcon sets out to rescue Toody. In this rollicking tale of adventure and surprise, not only will Falcon see her beloved Egg again, she will also discover her own extraordinarily courageous self.

Luli Gray belongs to a family for whom, she says, "reading and writing are as necessary as breathing." Born in Argentina, and for years a resident of New York City, she now lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Falcon and the Charles Street Witch is the sequel to her first novel, Falcons Egg which received rave reviews and was an ALA Notable Childrens Book for 1995 and a School Library Journal Best Book of 1996.