Lily

Gr 10 Up-Thirteen-year-old Lily is an unlikely pawn in this story that is part morality play and part fairy tale. When Lily has a vision of her father's death and later learns that his death has in fact come true, she feels a power inside. Lily and her mother leave their village for a large city where Lily is taken in by her worldly surroundings: the hustle and bustle of the streets, the raucous crowds, and garish lights. Swept up by the excitement in the air and pushed along by the maelstrom of people around her, the teen goes to see a traveling preacher. People in the streets say that Reverend Everyman is a healer, a prophet, a man of God. The reverend's traveling circus is more carnival than prayer meeting. Clowns with prison records and sketchy pasts enforce Everyman's will, and a tattooed girl is displayed in a cage and said to be possessed. Lily becomes part of the traveling show and naively believes the preacher will fix her curse, but he has his own insidious ideas. A classic struggle of good vs. evil pits witch Baba Yaga against the evil evangelist Everyman. A muddled, esoteric plot makes this a read for a narrow audience. The illustrations by Andersen, while provocative and artistic, are disturbing and otherworldly.