Of Giants and Ice

Gr 5-7–When sixth-grader Rory attends Ever After School, she can finally stop “acting like a side character” in the lives of her famous movie-actress mother and director father. EAS, it turns out, is not a run-of-the-mill after-school program but a place filled with magic–dragons, talking fawns, and tables with never-ending food–and her new acquaintances are “characters-in-training” who, under the guidance of fairy-tale heavyweights (e.g., Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Rumplestiltskin), go off to fight giants, dragons, and the evil Snow Queen. When Rory’s friend Lena chooses her and Chase (Rory’s nemesis) to accompany her up the beanstalk to steal the giant’s gold, they have no idea of the dangers they’ll face or the demands the tale will impose. From getting trapped in a locked rolltop desk to fighting off wolves inside a glass mountain, the threesome meet every challenge head-on, narrowly escaping being captured (or eaten!), and returning triumphant, if a bit battle-scarred. Rory realizes that, even with her transient life, she’ll remain part of EAS and be ready someday to vanquish the Snow Queen in a fairy tale that is uniquely hers. Readers will delight in fast-paced, detail-rich chapters. There’s plenty of magic to intrigue Harry Potter fans and enough twists and turns to entice even reluctant readers. The relationships among the three strong protagonists develop believably, and the secondary characters have enough dimension to maintain interest. This debut novel is a light, fun look at fairy tales after the “happily ever after.”–Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, formerly at LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI