Starred review from July 24, 2017
Valente (Radiance) delivers a linguistically dazzling novel that draws on the Brontë siblings’ real-life childhood writings about Glass Town, an invented land where they escaped the difficulties of their lives. Charlotte, Emily, Anne, and Branwell are grieving the deaths of two older sisters and dreading the “Beastliest Day” when Charlotte and Emily are forced to go off to school. As Branwell and Anne accompany them to the carriage, a detour to the local train station leads them to escape to Glass Town, which turns
out to be even wilder and more bizarre than they ever imagined. “Don’t worry, Em,” Charlotte reassures her sister. “We’re only in an insane, upside-down world populated by our toys, our stories, and Napoleon riding a giant chicken on fire. Nothing so bad as School.” The plot picks up after Anne and Branwell get kidnapped, but the story’s real delights come from the wit and cleverness woven into every description and conversation, as well as the sharp insights Valente brings to the children’s insecurities, longings, and hidden desires, which burst to the surface in this magical and perilous world. Ages 10–up.
Starred review from July 1, 2017
In a middle-grade fantasy reminiscent of beloved tales from Edward Eager and Pamela Dean, the imaginary realms of the Bronte juvenilia come to wondrous life. "Once, four children called Charlotte, Emily, Anne, and Branwell lived all together in a village called Haworth"--but the never-surnamed protagonists don't remain in their Yorkshire moors for long. Instead of escorting the two oldest girls to their dreaded School, the siblings are whisked off to Glass Town, where, as Charlotte dryly observes, "we're only in an insane, upside-down world populated by our toys, our stories, and Napoleon riding on a giant chicken on fire." Valente seizes this irresistible premise and careens off merrily, in gorgeous, coruscating prose spangled with groanworthy puns, extravagant metaphors, whimsical imagery, literary nods, and historical references. Beyond the sly allusions, sufficient to delight the most devoted Bronte-phile, it is the vivid, achingly real, personalities--brilliant, bossy Charlotte; wild, passionate Emily; gentle, perceptive Anne; and bullying, insecure Branwell--that compel attention. Unfolding against a background of loss and fear, their madcap fairy-tale adventures deepen into a heartbreaking keen of brutality and grief, at the last transposing into an exhilarating, bittersweet paean to identity, agency, and (inevitably) the power of storytelling. (Illustrations not seen.) An absolute must for fans, of course; but even readers who've never heard of Heathcliff will be captivated from the first page to the last. (Fantasy. 10-adult)
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June 1, 2017
Gr 4-7-Based on the Bronte siblings' real-life juvenilia, this new book by the author of the popular "Fairyland" series should generate excitement among both "Fairyland" and Bronte fans. The novel opens with teenage Emily and Charlotte preparing to return to boarding school. They are justifiably unhappy about the trip, considering that their two older sisters died of a fever while away at school. Their younger sister, Anne, and older brother, Branwell, go along to see them off-but instead of going to school, all four of them find themselves unexpectedly on a magic train to what turns out to be the real-life version of the imaginary world they created together, Glass Town. All the characters they imagined using dolls and toys have come to life, and all the rules they created in their fantasy are suddenly binding. While action-packed, the story is highly whimsical, and readers will need a high tolerance for puns. For instance, a "tea" spoon is made out of actual tea leaves while champagne "flutes" play music. Bad guys range from Napoleon, who rides a giant rooster, to a fly the size of a whale. The silly tone makes the stakes feel low. There is no clear reason why the Brontes ended up in Glass Town, and though the author tries to use the siblings' adventures to explore their relationships, ultimately the book's focus is on the characters' attempts to return home. VERDICT This fanciful take on the Bronte siblings lacks weight, but fans of Valente may be happy to go along for the ride.-Eliza Langhans, Hatfield Public Library, MA
Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
November 1, 2017
Valente draws on the writings of Charlotte, Emily, Anne, and Branwell Bronte in this fantasy in which the Bronte children, on the brink of returning to a hated boarding school, find themselves caught up in a whirling fantasy world consisting of their own juvenile writings come to life. The imagery of their imaginative games--wars involving Napoleon, the Duke of Wellington, the invented countries of Gondal and Angria, and the children's famous wooden soldiers--takes on new life in an extended series of physical puns, which Branwell recognizes as a marvelously weird, really drawn-out joke. In the world of Glass Town, British and French soldiers are literally limes (for limeys ) and frogs, respectively; a terrifying Magazine Man is made of all manner of printed matter. Valente's fantasy is baroque, effusive, full of lengthy description--and driven by energetic wordplay and wacky invention that keep it bounding along. Sometimes it leans toward The Phantom Tollbooth; sometimes it smacks of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. In among the verbal dash and plethora of British cultural references runs a deeper current: [Branwell] missed his mother so much it sometimes felt as though he were missing his own head, Valente tells us, revealing the emotional foundation for the children's alternate reality. Occasional black-and-white illustrations highlight just how much this world is populated by animate everyday objects (wood, cake, clothing) and, at the same time, emphasize the elegance and stylishness of Valente's nonsense. A few pages of acknowledgments alert young readers to the author's sources, sending them on to explore Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and more. deirdre f. baker
(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)