Monday has come around again and I am joining in the meme over at Mentor Texts.
Hop on over and join in at the Mentor Text Blog.
Hop on over and join in at the Mentor Text Blog.
In the past week I read Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu. I wasn't sure if I would like it as I was not a fan of the story The Snow Queen growing up. It was just a distant memory and I couldn't even recall the plot, just the distaste.
Breadcrumbs starts out as a realistic fiction novel but then becomes fantasy as it almost retells the story of the Snow Queen using the characters Jack and Hazel. I fell in love with both of them, so I was soon hooked into the story. About half way through I had to stop and go look up the story of the Snow Queen.
On page 45 - 46 Jack talks about his drawing of a simple palace. "There's a boy," Jack said. "He's a normal boy. Until one day he wakes up and no one can see him. He's turned invisible. And he tries everything, but nothing works. So he goes there.......There's no one to look at him, and no one will ever come." Jack has a hard time at home, his mother has gone into a depression - where she is not available to Jack. He is an easy target for the Snow Queen. Hazel too has her troubles with a father who really does not care about her and has to see a counsellor when she acts out at school. At the end of the visit "He dismissed her, and Hazel poured concrete into the hollow parts. Now she would be part girl, part hardening gray sludge. And no one would know the difference." No "plastic flowers of words" really made a difference.
Yet it is Hazel who courageously goes after Jack and saves him and brings him back. Her strong friendship with him matters. As he turns to go home, "Jack hesitated still and Hazel wanted to say something comforting, give him some bright plastic flowers of words, but Jack would see them for what they were. Jack know how to see things."
To me the second part of the story was like a journey made within. It is as if Jack has gone into inner territory of coldness and ugliness. Hazel seeks him out there, bringing him back to reality, with no promise that all would now be okay. Yet there is that strong bond of friendship that has broken through. Hazel did come.
For the coming week I plan to read The Mighty Miss Malone by C P Curtis. Looking forward to it.
Breadcrumbs has been on my wishlist for a while! I am glad to see that you enjoyed it. I'm a big fan of characters who really hook you into the story.
ReplyDeleteHappy reading week!
I read Breadcrumbs this week as well. I found the writing mesmerizing and the characters (and their pain) very real.
ReplyDeleteI loved Breadcrumbs! I wish I could get my students to pick it up, though.
ReplyDeleteI loved this book, those "bright plastic flowers of words". Thanks for the good review; I'm so glad you liked it, & agree with you about the meaning of the fantasy as interior life. I think we're trading books. I read Miss Malone this past week!
ReplyDeleteI kind of wish I had read Snow Queen before reading Breadcrumbs, but I'm not sure it would have helped me or not. I did like Breadcrumbs on it's own but I agree, it seemed like all of a sudden she was on a journey within the story of going to save Jack.
ReplyDeleteI hope you LOVE Miss Malone. She is a special character.
ReplyDelete