September is a twelve year-old girl who would love to go on an adventure. Luckily, she gets the chance when the Green Wind appears along with the Leopard of Little Breezes and shows her the way into Fairyland. She soon discovers that all is not well as the much-disliked Marquess (a brilliantly unlikeable character) has taken charge and attempted to bend Fairyland and all who live there to her will. After stumbling across some witches, September embarks on a quest to retrieve a stolen spoon, but soon finds herself caught up in an even greater adventure than she dared to hope.
I decided to read this book after several of my fellow booksellers were excitedly proclaiming how much they had fallen in love with it and so I ordered a copy based solely on their enthusiasm. When it arrived and I saw the cover I knew that it was the sort of book that I used to long for when I was younger: one that would let me escape and take me away into another world. The title could have simply been "September" as this is exactly who it is about, but "The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making" suits the story so much better (as well as being the best title for a book that I have ever come across). The illustrations provide a brilliant glimpse of certain parts of this tale (although they are a little creepy at times). There are even little summaries at the beginning of each chapter to give you a teasing taste of what is to come. It certainly set itself up to be a unique adventure,
Now, I am one of those people who can quite happily sit for hours devouring a book, and in fact love it when this happens as I get to feel like I have truly escaped reality just for a short while and gone on an exciting adventure. When I started to read this book, I really thought it would be another one I couldn't put down as it definitely appeared to have all of the right ingredients. However, I'd start reading and then suddenly realise that I was checking Facebook on my phone or doing some chore that had suddenly popped into my head. This wasn't because I wasn't enjoying the book and so this left me feeling slightly confused. I think that possibly the ease in which you can enter Fairyland through September, along with the nice complete chapters (one's that don't end in a way that makes you desperate to read on thanks to cliffhanger style endings) and the lack of identifying with September personally, all made it very easy to put the book down. This meant that I had to make a little bit more of an effort to complete the book, but this effort was worth it. I did still get to feel like I had escaped to Fairyland as Valente's world is nicely described and easy to picture. The characters were also very real feeling (or perhaps I have a vivid imagination!) and so were very effective in their roles of being warm and loving or bitter and intimidating. The writing style is different to most young adult writing that I've come across and this instantly gives the books Narnian feel (in fact, I frequently thought of Narnia whilst reading it and even Valente herself makes a reference to Narnia through Not/Nor who tells September that there's more than one way between her world and Fairyland, including "those that stumble through... a wardrobe full of winter coats"). However, it's definitely a tale for those who are slightly older as Valente successfully makes my favourite season seem sinister and doesn't shy away from the gruesome detail of gutting your first fish without proper instruction or the real consequences of being pushed down a deep, mostly-dry well (in other tales September might have had her fall cushioned by leaves so as not to come to harm).
If I were to make a criticism it would be some of the choices of words as there were frequently ones that I had no idea what the meaning was, even though I'm grown up and supposed to know such things, but this is really the only criticism I can make. Even with my initial difficulties with staying focused on this book I still found myself being carried away on the adventure and fell in love with the story and characters by the end (just as those before me have done). I cannot wait to read the sequel as Valente manages to give you another tantalising taste of what is to come without giving too much away. I definitely recommend this to anyone who has ever looked for Narnia in the back of their wardrobe, even if you're supposed to be a grown-up.
I give it 8/10 :)
P.S. I absolutely love the Wyverary! Such a brilliant idea for a character!
Title: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
Author: Catherynne M. Valente
Publisher: Corsair
Teenage Fiction
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