The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making [Hardcover]

This is a book I bought simply for the title - I thought it had to be good! It involves a girl going to Fairlyland, sounds good, and she makes her own ship, even better, she is active and can fend for herself. And then there is the cover, absolutely gorgeous and promises an enchanting book. I certainly was not disappointed.

The story starts with twelve year old September at home, bored with washing dishes and her ordinary life in Omaha - her father has left to go to war (WWI) and her mother works in the factory. The Green Wind sweeps in and offers to carry her off to Fairyland:

"You seem an ill-tempered and irascible enough child," said the Green Wind. "How would you like to come away with me and ride upon the Leopard of Little Breezes and be delivered to the great sea, which borders Fairyland? I am afraid I cannot go in, as Harsh Airs are not allowed, but I should be happy to deposit you upon the Perverse and Perilous Sea."
"Oh yes!" breathed September... (p.2)

And so September begins her adventures in Fairyland.

In Fairyland, September makes friends, especially with a Wyverary (half Wyvern and half library) named A-Through-L and a blue Marid boy named Saturday, amongst others. September is forced to go on a quest for the Marquess, a girl around her own age who governs Fairyland with strange rules and is feared by all.

This is a well told story, with an omnipotent narrator who frequently talks directly to the reader and lets them in on things that the characters do not know. There is a fun, Victorian, Alice in Wonderland air to the book which creates an old fashioned feel. The vocabulary and description used by the author is rich and wonderful, adding to the magic and whimsical nature of the book while successfully transporting the reader to Fairyland. I also loved the quirky humour.

The characters are interesting and different and they even have great names. I loved and was totally engaged with September, how she was a bit heartless, but at the same time loyal, eager for adventure, and brave.

I found this was a book that I did not want to rush through; I read it slowly so as to savour it. The book was a bit meandery, and I wanted to meander through it. That is not to say it was slow - there was lots of action and held my interest well - but the sentences were so rich and the chapters so full that I wanted to soak them up. I found I almost didn't want to read the last two chapters because I did not want the story to end.

Here are some of my favourite quotes that do not include spoilers. These are examples of sentences I stopped and re-read simply to enjoy them again.

"Well... what do witches do, then?" September refused to feel foolish. It was hard enough for a human to get into Fairyland. True stories must be nearly impossible to get out. (p. 30)

"I can't stop," the shark rasped. "If I stop, I shall sink and die. That's the way I'm made. I have to keep going always, and even when I get where I'm going, I'll have to keep on. That's living." (p. 193)

And then there is the art! Each chapter is accompanied by a lovely drawing by Ana Juan. These were perfect for the story, and can be seen in the book trailer (can find on YouTube), which I also thoroughly enjoyed.

I would highly recommend this book to middle school children who love adventure and don't mind some challenging vocabulary, but also to adults who love fairy tales. This is definitely one I will read to my kids and they will probably want to stay up half the night trying to get me to read just one more chapter to find out what happens next.

Every child wants to be whisked away to a magical land, have adventures, and set out on a fantastical quest against a tyrant.

It's a pretty typical fantasy storyline as well, and it takes something special to make such stories stand out. Catherynne Valente's "The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making" is an enchanting example, filled with delightful nonsense, wryly witty prose, and a wonderfully oddball world that reminds me of a more lyrical Lewis Carroll.

A young girl named September is whisked away from her boring Nebraska home by the Green Wind, who takes her to Fairyland. But September soon finds herself traveling through Fairyland herself, encountering a soap golem, a half-library wyvern named A-Through-L, a wairwulf, the Perverse and Perilous Sea with its golden beaches, The House Without Warning, gnomish customs agents, a jeweled key, a migration of bicycles.

She also is given a quest by a pair of witches -- find the magical spoon that the cruel Marquess stole from their dead brothers. So she and the Wyverary set out to the city of Pandemonium, but soon find themselves (and a flying leopard named Saturday) on a new quest, with overwhelming results for all the people of Fairyland.

Normally, Catherynne Valente has a lush, lyrical, sensual writing style, and there's a fair amount of that in this book ("... the moon slowly fall down into the horizon and all the dark morning stars turn in the sky like a silver carousel"). Her Fairyland is a weird, sometimes dangerous place filled with countless oddball creatures (migrating bicycles!), making her story feel like a more plotcentric "Alice in Wonderland."

But since this book is meant for children, she also weaves in a wry, arch style that reminds me of some classic British prose ('As you might expect, the geographical location of the capital of Fairyland is fickle and has a rather short temper"). This gets a little twee sometimes, but Valente also weaves in a bittersweet thread as the story goes on, as well as some dark, delicately heartrending moments.

It takes a little while to warm up to September, since she is initially Heartless (like many children), and doesn't care much about what worry she might cause her parents. Then again, it's pleasant to have a heroine who goes happily into another world without moping about going home -- and despite being Heartless, September proves herself to be a sweet, compassionate girl who is just childlike enough to accept the weirdness.

Catherynne Valente blends her velvety prose with a quirky magical twist in"The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making." And she leaves the door to Fairyland open... just in case.

"The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making," by Catherynne M. Valente, is the first in a series of books about September, a just-past 12 year old girl in Nebraska, who is offered a trip via the flying Leopard of Little Breezes to Fairyland by the Green Wind. Fairyland is being governed now by the Marquess, who has made all sorts of laws and rules that are stifling the people; for example, only Cats and Ragwort Stalks can fly, meaning that Dragons and Wyverns and other magical flying creatures have their wings chained to their bodies. September soon meets all manner of creatures, including the Witches Hello, Goodbye and Manythanks; A-Through-L, a Wyvern/Library hybrid; Saturday, a Marid (seafolk); and Death, among many others. Of course she has adventures and of course she saves Fairyland from the wicked Marquess, but how she does so, now, therein lies the tale.... This is a lovely, very inventive and in places very funny book, which I would place as being somewhere between a children's novel and a YA book; Valente has many creative ideas that are expanded upon nicely here, and she also includes some wisdom and poignancy as well. But most of all, September is an "ill-tempered and irascible enough child," as the Green Wind says, who is also loyal and idealistic and kind; an excellent addition to the tradition of little girls as leading characters. I can't wait to start the second book, already in my "to be read" pile; recommended!