“The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in A Ship of Her Own Making” by, Catherynne Valente

                Twelve-year-old September can’t help but long for adventure, so when she’s invited to go to Fairyland she doesn’t think twice before accepting. September journeys into Fairyland with the Green Wind and a Leopard, but she meets many more friends along the way. When September finds out that Fairyland is in danger she and her friends have to find a way to save it.

                I just have to start by saying that Catherynne Valente is a brilliant author and I am in love with her stories. Put those stories together with the utterly captivating illustrations by Ana Juan and you get a book that will delight and fascinate everyone who reads it.

Reading about September, Saturday (A Marid), A-through-L (The Wyverary), and all the other remarkable characters that populate this book was like spending hours in one of my favorite dreams. The messages of love, friendship, and bravery seamlessly woven within the pages warmed my heart. “The girl who circumnavigated Fairyland in a ship of her own making” is a book that begs to be read over and over again. Needless to say, I absolutely and completely loved it and I am so excited to start the second book in the series “The girl who fell beneath Fairyland and led the revels there”.

Here is just one of my favorite passages, enjoy…

“When you are born, your courage is new and clean. You are brave enough for anything: crawling off of staircases, saying your first words without fearing that someone will think you are foolish, putting strange things in your mouth. But as you get older, your courage attracts gunk and crusty things and dirt and fear and knowing how bad things can get and what pain feels like. By the time you’re half-grown, your courage barely moves at all, it’s so grunged up with living. So every once in a while, you have to scrub it up and get the works going or else you’ll never be brave again.”

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“The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland-For a little while” by, Catherynne Valente

This is a short story about Mallow (A character we met in book #1). Just as beautifully written, “The girl who ruled Fairyland-for a little while” gives us a great backstory for some of the characters and is a great addition to the Fairyland series. Short and satisfying! 

Catherynne's Page