Punk Fairies

Actually the fairies in Eyes Like Stars are not the same punk fairies as those in The Good Fairies of New York but reading that first will definitely get you in the right mood. Bertie lives in a theater with the fairies from Midsummer's Night Dream as friends. The stage manager, wardrobe mistress, props master and other important theater figures live there too as well as all the actors who only come out when a notice is left for them on the call board. As you can see, Eyes Like Stars takes place in a world much like the ones in plays--it looks familiar but it's not quite reality. Bertie is an orphan and although the theater is home it is a home where she doesn't really have a role. After causing one disaster too many, Bertie is told to prove that she is useful to the theater or she will have to leave forever. She decides to direct a new version of Hamlet proving herself useful as a director. But it is really as a playwright that she is able to solve the mystery of where she came from and save the theater from falling apart. For middle school, advanced readers in elementary school and anyone who likes Shakespeare.

Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev, 978-0-312-38096-0, July 2009.

Made me think of:
The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar (fairies)
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (watching a story unfold before you)

This just in--cake wrecking contest!!! Lisa Mantchev is holding a contest and you can win fabulous prizes. See here for details: http://www.theatre-illuminata.com/contest2.html

UnExpected

Paisley Hanover Acts Out came as a surprise. It was, in Paisley speak, UnExpected. The book comes packaged in a cute box with a hot pink and orange cover with a cartoony picture on front. Inside is the book and then a little notebook that I thought was blank but was really a copy of Paisley's notebook. Judging by the cover, it was going to be a cute, fun story about middle school with little cartoony drawings. It was a fun story. But it was more than that. First off, Paisley is a high school sophomore. Secondly, there were not cute little illustrations throughout the book (totally fine by me). And lastly, Paisley is struggling to be who she really is, not just who she thinks the world wants her to be. But now that she's invested a lot of herself in becoming popular suddenly deciding to make a shift is not so easy. This could have been just one of many stories about a girl deciding to think for herself but stands out from the herd because of Paisley's completely believable snarky voice--occasionally anguished, usually funny, always heartfelt.

Paisley Hanover Acts Out by Cameron Tuttle, 978-978-0-8037-3586-5