From Amazon.com
Maddy has lost her sheep and even her dog Aerlich doesn't know where to find him. "It would soon be too dark to see anything, but a succulent young lamb would not survive the night in the wild rocky scree beyond the farm; if a foltza didn't get him, a yerig would. Damn." Okay, so Newbery Medal winner Robin McKinley's magical story
The Stone Fey is no Little Bo Peep tale, and Maddy, the conflicted, passionate shepherdess, is no Bo Peep. One wild night in the Hills of Damar, a stone fey--a magical creature of the wilds--greets Maddy with her lost lamb in his muscular arms--
his skin was gray, with "a rose-quartz flush across his cheekbones." After that fateful night, she can't get him out of her head, despite her commitments to longtime sweetheart Damon, who is due to return from a year away. With all the mist and mystery of a Mary Stewart novel,
The Stone Fey is sure to thrill young readers with wildness in their hearts. John Clapp's lovely watercolors perfectly capture the mood of this haunting, innocent exploration of the nature of romantic love. (Click to see a
sample spread. Illustration from
The Stone Fey by Robin McKinley, illustration © 1998 by John Clapp, reproduced by permission of Harcourt Brace & Company.) (Ages 10 and older)
--Karin Snelson
From Publishers Weekly
While staying true to her penchant for presenting strong female protagonists, Newbery winner McKinley strikes a softer note with this deeply romantic yet ultimately clear-eyed love story set in the fantasy kingdom of Damar. Maddy has always known who she is and exactly what she wants?to tend her flock of sheep; to marry her childhood friend, Donal; and to earn enough money to build her own farm close beside the "Hills [that] were her flesh and bone." But after she meets and falls in love with a Stone Fey, Maddy finds herself drifting further and further away from the people and things she truly cares for. Only when she accepts the fact that the Fey is unable to return her love (or to feel anything at all) is she free to rediscover her sense of self. Newcomer Clapp's incidental illustrations, dreamy watercolor and graphite paintings reminiscent of the work of Barry Moser, heighten the quiet drama of McKinley's prose. The best of his landscapes evoke the serene stillness of McKinley's writing; one portrait of Maddy, with its masterful play of light and shadow, particularly showcases his craft, as it glows with the power of burgeoning love. McKinley's sophisticated syntax, as well as the text's subtle concern with female sexuality, make the novella most appropriate for teens who can appreciate its empowering feminist message. The superb storytelling, however, will likely hold the rapt attention of readers whatever their politics or gender. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
