It'll require turning you into a millipede, but I think I can manage it

[sovay]

My day started with a wake and ended with a Halloween party and at this point I have been awake for essentially three days (I do not count five hours of non-consecutive sleep, especially when at least one of them occurred in a car on the way to Cape Cod), so this is not really a post. It is a recommendation for Ursula Vernon's Castle Hangnail (2015), which I read in the car on the way back from Cape Cod: it was my present from schreibergasse and is recognizably the work of the genius who brought us Digger, "Squashbat," and "Balthazar Disdains the Lemon" while reminding me more of Diana Wynne Jones than anything since Charmed Life (1977) and The Lives of Christopher Chant (1988). I can't decide if one of the protagonist's spells is a nod to Lloyd Alexander or a case of plausible parallel evolution. The prose is breezy and funny and perceptive, with informative facts about the natural world on the side. The black-and-white illustrations by the author interact well with the text; I'd be interested to know if Vernon has done any art for the characters outside of the book. The emotional hits are real. I like the minions of Castle Hangnail and I like the twelve-year-old girl with steel-toed boots and a vulture pendant who comes to take charge of the masterless castle before it's decommissioned by the Board of Magic; I too would like to know more about Mad King Harold, who thought he was a cuttlefish and declared war on the clouds. Right now, I'm going to bed.

Comments

[kate_nepveu]

One day SteelyKid will go back to this--she's greatly enjoyed her work at younger levels, but I didn't realize how thick this was when I got it for her. For very light reading or readers in early elementary I can unhesitatingly recommend _Harriet the Invincible_ and recommend the Dragonbreath series with small reservations.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

It is a recommendation for Ursula Vernon's Castle Hangnail

I also read her Danny Dragonbreath books and her new Hamster Princess one. total hoot. I will next give them to the Grand Niece to see if she gets the part where everyone tells Danny that Dragons dont exist.. but hey, he is a dragon!

[ookpik.livejournal.com]

That looks like just what I need to read. Thank you!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Castle Hangnail sounds like a lot of fun.