Plenty of adults already know and love New York Times–bestselling author Catherynne M. Valente through her wondrous and magical The Orphan’s Tales series. Now, Valente turns her considerable talents to a new and different story world for tweens and up in The Fairyland Series, which is being compared favorably to The Oz story books.
“One of the most extraordinary works of fantasy, for adults or children, published so far this century.”
—Time magazine, on the Fairyland series
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (4.5/5 stars, currently priced at $2.99)
Twelve-year-old September lives in Omaha, and used to have an ordinary life, until her father went to war and her mother went to work. One day, September is met at her kitchen window by a Green Wind (taking the form of a gentleman in a green jacket), who invites her on an adventure, implying that her help is needed in Fairyland. The new Marquess is unpredictable and fickle, and also not much older than September. Only September can retrieve a talisman the Marquess wants from the enchanted woods, and if she doesn’t . . . then the Marquess will make life impossible for the inhabitants of Fairyland. September is already making new friends, including a book-loving Wyvern and a mysterious boy named Saturday.
With exquisite illustrations by acclaimed artist Ana Juan, Fairyland lives up to the sensation it created when author Catherynne M. Valente first posted it online. For readers of all ages who love the charm of Alice in Wonderland and the soul of The Golden Compass, here is a reading experience unto itself: unforgettable, and so very beautiful.
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making is a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Fiction title for 2011.
The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There (4.5/5 stars, currently priced at $5.67)
September has longed to return to Fairyland after her first adventure there. And when she finally does, she learns that its inhabitants have been losing their shadows—–and their magic–—to the world of Fairyland Below. This underworld has a new ruler: Halloween, the Hollow Queen, who is September’s shadow. And Halloween does not want to give Fairyland’s shadows back.
Fans of Valente’s bestselling, first Fairyland book will revel in the lush setting, characters, and language of September’s journey, all brought to life by fine artist Ana Juan. Readers will also welcome back good friends Ell, the Wyverary, and the boy Saturday. But in Fairyland Below, even the best of friends aren’t always what they seem. . . .
The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two (4/5 stars, currently priced at $5.67)
September misses Fairyland and her friends Ell, the Wyverary, and the boy Saturday. She longs to leave the routines of home and embark on a new adventure. Little does she know that this time, she will be spirited away to the moon, reunited with her friends, and find herself faced with saving Fairyland from a moon-Yeti with great and mysterious powers.
The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two is another rich, beautifully told, wisely humorous, and passionately layered book from New York Times–bestselling author Catherynne M. Valente.
The Boy Who Lost Fairyland (4.5/5 stars, currently priced at $9.99)
When a young troll named Hawthorn is stolen from Fairyland by the Red Wind, he becomes a changeling-a human boy-in the strange city of Chicago, a place no less bizarre and magical than Fairyland. Left with a human family, Hawthorn struggles with his troll nature and his changeling fate, while attending school and learning about human kindnesses-and un-kindnesses.
In a starred review, Kirkus noted, “Every page of this book contains at least one stunning sentence. Valente’s descriptions of the human world make it sound like an exotic place, even when she just lists things to see: “diamonds and dinosaur bones and Canadian geese and the Cathedral of Notre Dame and ballpoint pens.” Readers may wish the words were food, so they could eat them up. And they may keep reading this series for just as long as people have been arguing about Oz.”
Time magazine has praised Catherynne M. Valente’s Fairyland books as “one of the most extraordinary works of fantasy, for adults or children, published so far this century.” In this fourth installment of her saga, Valente’s wisdom and wit will charm readers of all ages.
The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All The Way Home (scheduled for release 3/1/16, currently available for pre-order at $9.99)
September has been crowned as Queen of Fairyland but the Kingdom is in chaos. The magic of a Dodo egg has brought every King, Queen, or Marquees of Fairyland back to life, each with a claim on the throne and their own plots and histories.
In order to make sense of it all, and to save their friend from a job she doesn’t want, A-Through-L and Saturday devise a Royal Race, a Monarchical Marathon, in which every would-be ruler will chase the Stoat of Arms across the nation, and the first to seize the poor beast will be crowned.
Caught up in the madness are September’s parents, who have crossed the universe to find their daughter.
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