The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente – – fantasy

September is 12 years old. She is whisked away by the wind and a flying leopard to Fairyland. There she meets all kinds of fae from witches, to wairwolves, to Wyverns and more. She learns that Fairyland is ruled by the evil Marquess and she does her best to try and right the wrongs that have been occuring here.

I’d call this book a mix of Alice in Wonderland and The Chronicles of Narnia. It reminded me a lot of both of them, though that’s not a bad thing. I really enjoyed the characters and all of the different fae that September comes across. September herself is delightfully charming. She is young, but she is also fiercely independent. Her mother works in a factory and her father is off fighting in Europe during WWII. September has to do a lot of things on her own at home already and she seems to perfectly fit into the Fairyland world.

I wish I had this book when I was a kid, I think I would have appreciated it a lot more. A child’s imagination can be so full of wonder and amazement and I think we lose some of that as we get older. I was thoroughly engaged in September’s adventure, however, from start to finish. This will definitely be one book I read with my kids someday!