Disclaimer: I got a free ARC via netgalley.Poor Courtney Crumrin. Her parents are clueless, the family has moved in with her mysterious uncle, she’s the new kid at school, and there is something that goes bump in the night in her bedroom. What’s a girl to do?Use her noggin.Courtney Crumrin, like Tiffany Achling, is the girl’s answer to Harry Potter. She’s Hermione gone gothic. Well, slightly Goth. Courtney is her own teen after all. (And how come male authors keep doing this, not female ones?)This volume contains three stories about Courtney as she adjusts to her new life. The first is about her experiences in a new school, and the other two are adventures. What Ted Naifeh has done, and done brilliantly, is take that out of place teen feeling and grafted in onto fairy stories.And I don’t mean Tinkerbelle fairy or the Tooth Fairy. I mean the let’s dance in the fairy ring for days fairy.Courtney isn’t nice or sweet. In fact, she’s every anti-social teen you’ve ever met. Yet because of this, she becomes the every teen. The idea of belonging or not belonging, that desire to be social that inflict even the most unsocial of us, runs though these three stories. Yet, while Courtney is that outsider teen, she isn’t a victim. She might be a potential bully victim, but she fights back. There is something special about Courtney in her anti-behavior, in her ability to learn from her mistakes, of her better nature. The reader roots for her.Naifeh makes great and intelligent use of fairy motif and lore. There is a bit about magic, and the story is framed by a goblin/demon that resembles a large wolf. He’s not sweet, don’t worry. In addition to the use of teen awkwardness, Naifeh makes good use of family behavior in terms of changelings. There is some social and family dynamic commentary here, such as people who have children as a status symbol. There are wonderful touches of detail, not only in how the tales are used, but also in the families and the drawings. In addition, Courtney’s desire to be herself is balanced by her parents’ desire to belong. While the moral might not be subtle, the parents are not necessary walking clichés or stereotypes either. Despite their brief appearances, there is some depth to them.This is a great book for a teen or an adult to read.
Chris' Fish Place
Thoughts on things, mostly books.
Disclaimer: I got a free ARC via netgalley.Poor Courtney Crumrin. Her parents are clueless, the family has moved in with her mysterious uncle, she’s the new kid at school, and there is something that goes bump in the night in her bedroom. What’s a girl to do?Use her noggin.Courtney Crumrin, like Tiffany Achling, is the girl’s answer to Harry Potter. She’s Hermione gone gothic. Well, slightly Goth. Courtney is her own teen after all. (And how come male authors keep doing this, not female ones?)This volume contains three stories about Courtney as she adjusts to her new life. The first is about her experiences in a new school, and the other two are adventures. What Ted Naifeh has done, and done brilliantly, is take that out of place teen feeling and grafted in onto fairy stories.And I don’t mean Tinkerbelle fairy or the Tooth Fairy. I mean the let’s dance in the fairy ring for days fairy.Courtney isn’t nice or sweet. In fact, she’s every anti-social teen you’ve ever met. Yet because of this, she becomes the every teen. The idea of belonging or not belonging, that desire to be social that inflict even the most unsocial of us, runs though these three stories. Yet, while Courtney is that outsider teen, she isn’t a victim. She might be a potential bully victim, but she fights back. There is something special about Courtney in her anti-behavior, in her ability to learn from her mistakes, of her better nature. The reader roots for her.Naifeh makes great and intelligent use of fairy motif and lore. There is a bit about magic, and the story is framed by a goblin/demon that resembles a large wolf. He’s not sweet, don’t worry. In addition to the use of teen awkwardness, Naifeh makes good use of family behavior in terms of changelings. There is some social and family dynamic commentary here, such as people who have children as a status symbol. There are wonderful touches of detail, not only in how the tales are used, but also in the families and the drawings. In addition, Courtney’s desire to be herself is balanced by her parents’ desire to belong. While the moral might not be subtle, the parents are not necessary walking clichés or stereotypes either. Despite their brief appearances, there is some depth to them.This is a great book for a teen or an adult to read.
