Book week, part 6

Breadcrumbs, by Anne Ursu, drawings by Erin McGuire. 

At first I wasn't sure I should mention this book, because the author is a friend of mine. Maybe it looks suspect when I say it's her best book yet (and I've liked all her other books), even though I really do mean it, and anyone who's talked to me about it in person knows I rave about it.

But then Amazon.com named it one of the 10 best books of 2011 for middle readers, and NPR selected it for its December kids' book club read. Maybe my opinion is suspect, but since Amazon and NPR echo it, I'm going ahead.

Breadcrumbs is a lovely story inspired by the Snow Queen tale of Hans Christian Anderson. Hazel lives with her divorced mother in frugal circumstances, but she doesn't care, as long as she's still friend with Jack, her best friend since they were six. Jack has some family issues of his own--his mother is sinking deeper and deeper into depression, and both kids are subject to taunting at school. But as long as Jack is her friend, Hazel can cope.

Then one day Jack suddenly wants nothing to do with Hazel anymore. There was no fight, no clear issue. Even though Hazel's mom tries to tell her that this is what happens when boys and girls who are friends reach the age of eleven, Hazel is heartbroken and doesn't believe it. As it turns out, she's right to put faith in Jack: unbeknownst to any of the grownups, Jack has had his heart frozen and has been spirited away to live in an ice palace, deep in the woods.

When Hazel learn what's happened, she is determined that she must save him, no matter how difficult the journey may be. Because that's what friends do for each other: they know the truth about each other, and they will do whatever it takes.

Like the books I talked about yesterday, the magic of this story is tempered with its grounding in reality. There's a wry look at the way adults interact with kids, such as when Hazel's mom decides to have a teachable moment regarding the scientific makeup of snowflakes:

"People were always doing this sort of thing to Hazel. Nobody could accept that she did not want to hear about gaseous balls and layers of atmosphere and refracted light and tiny building blocks of life. The truth of things was always much more mundane than what she could imagine, and she did not understand why people always wanted to replace the marvelous things in her head with this miserable heap of you're-a-fifth-grader-now facts."

Hazel's journey to find the ice palace and rescue Jack is fraught with danger, and she also meets up with various fairy-tale characters. Even in this hallucinatory place, there is a correlation with reality:

"She had stepped into the woods in the park and landed in an entirely different place. She knew this might happen. She'd been to Narnia, Wonderland, Hogwarts, Dictionopolis. She had tessered, fallen through the rabbit hole, crossed the ice bridge into the unknown world beyond. Hazel knew this world. And it should have made this easier.

"But it did not."

Beautifully written, haunting, wistful--this is a good one not just for middle-grade readers, but for everyone.

And I do mean that.

Comments

[Minnesota Prairie Roots]

Amy, I have heard of this book and now, reading your rave, I would like to consider it for review in Minnesota Moments magazine. Could you pass my interest in it along to your author friend? I have my reviews written for the winter issue, so we're talking consideration for a possible spring review here.

[Carrie#K]

It sounds like a good book! Perfect for the season as well.

[Carrie#K]

P.S. Our library system has 10 copies of it and they are ALL checked out.