The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

I can't very well be expected to resist a title like that, can I?

September, like so many other heroines in so many other stories, finds herself traveling to a magical land where she makes friends with interesting creatures and has wonderful adventures. She learns a lot along the way, and I love the way the lessons pop up throughout the text. The narrator is incredibly self-aware. This is one of those books that I had to fight not to read out loud. The language is just so much fun.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making has elements of all the childhood stories I loved growing up. September receives a pair of special shoes. She falls down a hole and travels by boat to an island full of one-legged creatures. She meets a girl who arrived via a wardrobe in an attic. She is warned to stay away from fairy food, but munches on pomegranate seeds anyway. But it has it's own charms too, setting itself apart from the other books by not forcing September to grow up.

This book ultimately serves as something of a rebuke to the stories of our childhood. To Dorothy with her single-minded determination to go home that cast a shadow over her enjoyment of Oz. To Aslan and his refusal to let the Pevensies stay in Narnia, or let Susan return because she had the gall to grow up. To Milo and his maturation beyond Dictionopolis and Digitopolis. The triumph of September's story is that she doesn't have to choose between reality and Fairlyand. Of course, the tragedy is that she can't choose. September belongs to both and neither, forever traveling between the two worlds. But then, anyone who spends much time reading knows that there are worse fates.

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