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A review by roseleaf24
Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu
5.0
Usually when a book gets a lot of credit for the lyrical language, it ends up being a book I'm not particularly fond of (Chime, The Underneath I'm looking at you). Ursu's writing, though, is on the spectrum of phenomenal writing somewhere in between those almost-poetry books and Rick Riordan. I kept interrupting my husband to read him some sections, like:
"Jack had moved in next door when she was six. She liked him right away because he replaced the girl who'd lived there before, a four-year-old who was always trying to convince Hazel to come ot her tea parties, where no talking was allowed. Plus he was wearing an eye patch. Hazel's six-year-old self was sorely disappointed when she found out that he didn't actually need one, but she quickly learned it was the wearing one that really mattered. This was a secret truth about the world, one they both understood."
LOVE. This book has not just language that is so beautiful, so flowing, with such perfect touches of humor, but it has the characters and the plot that others have left me lacking. This modern retelling of Hans Christian Anderson's "The Snow Queen" captures beautifully the haunting nature of Anderson's fairy tales. They exist somewhere between the fantasy and the real, creating an uncertainty and an unsettling atmosphere. I never rested easy for these characters, and remain somewhat unsure how much was fantasy and how much was the characters' imagination.
I've read a lot of children's, middle grade, and young adult fiction, both realistic and fantasy, and I've read a lot of books that I felt did an excellent job of capturing the inner mind of a child. Ursu blew them all out of the water. The awkwardness I felt at this age was so clearly and perfectly depicted here. I don't have Hazel's reasons for not feeling like I fit in, but I could identify completely with her discomforts and wanted it to all work out for her.
This book ended up on my to-read list because it popped up in Newbery possibility discussions frequently last year. I don't often question the Newbery choice, even if I'm surprised or dislike the winner out of personal preference, but this is by far the most distinguished book of the contenders that I've read.
"Jack had moved in next door when she was six. She liked him right away because he replaced the girl who'd lived there before, a four-year-old who was always trying to convince Hazel to come ot her tea parties, where no talking was allowed. Plus he was wearing an eye patch. Hazel's six-year-old self was sorely disappointed when she found out that he didn't actually need one, but she quickly learned it was the wearing one that really mattered. This was a secret truth about the world, one they both understood."
LOVE. This book has not just language that is so beautiful, so flowing, with such perfect touches of humor, but it has the characters and the plot that others have left me lacking. This modern retelling of Hans Christian Anderson's "The Snow Queen" captures beautifully the haunting nature of Anderson's fairy tales. They exist somewhere between the fantasy and the real, creating an uncertainty and an unsettling atmosphere. I never rested easy for these characters, and remain somewhat unsure how much was fantasy and how much was the characters' imagination.
I've read a lot of children's, middle grade, and young adult fiction, both realistic and fantasy, and I've read a lot of books that I felt did an excellent job of capturing the inner mind of a child. Ursu blew them all out of the water. The awkwardness I felt at this age was so clearly and perfectly depicted here. I don't have Hazel's reasons for not feeling like I fit in, but I could identify completely with her discomforts and wanted it to all work out for her.
This book ended up on my to-read list because it popped up in Newbery possibility discussions frequently last year. I don't often question the Newbery choice, even if I'm surprised or dislike the winner out of personal preference, but this is by far the most distinguished book of the contenders that I've read.