Huzzah! We just got news of our third starred review for Ellen Booraem‘s Small Persons With Wings, this one from School Library Journal‘s forthcoming January edition:
When 13-year-old Mellie Turpin was very young, her best friend was a three-inch-tall Small Person with Wings (or Parvi Pennati–but never call them fairies!) named Fidius. She hasn’t seen Fidius since she was in kindergarten, but when her grandfather dies and leaves the family his Parvi-infested inn, she discovers that she’s the latest in a long line of Turpins who provides sanctuary for the creatures in return for getting to keep a magical moonstone. They are having problems with their magic, so they want to release the Turpins from their contract and get the moonstone back but no one knows where it is. Mellie, matter-of-fact and slightly bad-tempered, narrates this hilarious tale of these enchanting, annoying little beings who sprinkle their speech with Latin and French phrases and are obsessed with appearances and enamored with high drama and style. Every character, human or Parvi, is drawn with singular care and humor, from the disgracefully clumsy Inepta to Mellie’s patient, maybe-new-friend Timmo. Spells turn people into drooling frogs and irascible bonging clocks, the truth-seeing magic of the moonstone turns out to be something of a liability, and Mellie “grows into her grandeur” just in time to save the Parvi as well as her entire family. Readers will share the girl’s irritated fondness for the ridiculous and lovable Parvi. A great choice for all who favor funny and intelligent fantasies with quirky characters and an unpredictable, fast-moving plot.
And that’s not even all of today’s good news! Booklist also says of SPWW, “This clever tale […] wraps a story of acceptance, both of self and family, in the fairy dressing.”
I still have a few galleys of Small Persons With Wings — let’s do ONE MORE contest before Christmas. Share your imaginary friend story in the comments — or on your own blog, with a link to it in the comments here — and one random winner will receive a copy of SPWW. I’ll pick the winner on Wednesday, so get to commenting!
And I haven’t forgotten the nerdity contest I was running, for a grab bag of kt literary titles! (Ok, fine, I forgot, but I’m remembering now!) The random winner is… Sara Mackay! Sara, email me your mailing address for a post-holiday gift bag of great books.
I also was running a contest for just a tote bag, for your pictures of you with your copy of Anna and the French Kiss. Alas, no one wanted to enter *sad face*, so I guess I’ll just keep another tote bag for myself! Unless maybe YOU have a picture of you and your ANNA? Show me the link by Wednesday (again), and you may win!
So get on it! Lots to do, and not much time left before Christmas!
14 thoughts on “Three Stars for SMALL PERSONS! (And THREE contests)”
I don't know if this counts, but my imaginary friend when I was a kid was the elf that shared a body with my dog. The fact that my dog had red hair on his belly convinced me that a leprechaun was living inside him. The Saltine crackers my dog ate with gusto I figured must be a favorite of the leprechaun's.
My imaginary friend was a Pan-like daemon I would go on raids/missions/explorations with. We were a pretty dynamic duo x)
My imaginary friend was a My Little Pony named Pone ("Powne" not "Pony") who had wings. But I guess they didn't work, because every time we tried to fly I fell down and was hurt 😛 We tried jumping from higher and higher objects – front stoops to picnic tables to football field goal posts – but never did get high enough to fly. Instead she flew next to the car window while we drove on the highway (which is pretty amazing if you think about it – she was flying very close to the ground at around 75mph and not hitting any of those trees!). She also gave birth to my best friend's imaginary pony friend, Stormy.
I wrote a story about her in fourth grade, which would be my first complete book. The plot was pretty good, but the illustrations could use some work.
My imaginary friend was named Jessica, and she came everywhere with me.
One time my mom and I went shopping, and when I was waiting for Jessica to get out of the car so she could come too, my mom got frustrated and shut the door before she got out. Apparently she was "taking too long." The entire time we were in the store, I kept yelling that my mom hadn't let Jessica out of the car. My mom was mortified and everyone was looking at us, probably suspecting my poor mother of child abuse since they had no idea Jessica was imaginary.
I'm not angling for an ARC, but I just had to say this…my imaginary friend in real life was an alligator. I think I was three, maybe four. I don't remember that he had much personality.
Love the dog/leprechaun symbiosis.
This sounds like an excellent book! 😀
I didn't have IMAGINARY friends so much as I personified my TOYS. I especially loved my stuffed bunny named Tonya. I would play with her ALL THE TIME. And I had this cool camera for kids and I would spend ROLLS of film taking pictures of my stuffed animals, all lined up and posing for the camera 🙂
I never had imaginary friends… I had imaginary siblings!
At the age of three, I pretended to find a baby in the doll cradle my mom brought down from the attic. His name was Jonathan, and he looked suspiciously like the toddler in my Fischer Price dollhouse. Also, he was my brother.
And we had magical powers.
For the next four to five years, Jonathan and I– aided and bedded by other siblings (dolls and imaginary!)– gained the BEST superhero abilities ever. Like… being able to video record what you saw, so that you could watch the weird kids in the furniture store bounce around again later. Also, Jonathan could conveniently take the blame for wanting to know what would happen if you drew on the tv screen! He went to school with me, despite the fact that two-year-olds shouldn't go to school, and he and my "sisters" were characters in my first books!
I'm really starting to wonder why my parents didn't commit me.
I grew out of it, eventually, and began writing stories about Barbie dolls in third grade. But i still know when his birthday was, and talked to him a few times after that Disney Channel movie when the imaginary friends turn into the Boogeyman…. Just in case.
Ummm abetted. Not bedded. Not at all.
Damn you autocorrect.
Small Persons With Wings sounds like a wonderful book!
I had a series of imaginary friends and anthropomorphized toys. For a while, I had an imaginary friendly ghost who, coincidentally, looked an awful lot like Casper. I used to make up invisible friends to keep me company on long car trips… now that I think of it, that was great practice for creating fictional characters.
I can't wait to read SPWW! Sounds wonderful.
My imaginary friend was my school desk when I was in the first grade. It was a very beat up wooden desk, and I imagined that I could offer adequate comfort so that it wouldn't feel sad about its scars.
A picture with Anna and the French Kiss… http://www.flickr.com/photos/57336595@N02/5281217…
I never had an imaginary friend, I’m afraid— my younger sister and I have always been too close for me to need anyone else. Although, there was a Disney Channel movie called “Don’t Look Under the Bed” that really got me to thinking about imaginary friends and if I was weird for not having one, but looking back on it, I’m kind of okay I had my sister to talk to instead of Franny’s “boogie-woman.” 😀
Happy Christmas!
~Deserae McGlothen
P.S. LOVE Stephanie Perkins’ book thus far— I hope to upload a picture soon! 🙂
Sounds like a great book and I would love to win it, however, I can't lie and say I had an imaginary friend cause I didn't.
I had four sisters instead–no room for any imaginary people. Of course we were very imaginative, like pretending we were the Charlie's Angels..which wasn't too far off since my mom's name is Charlie, except we didn't really fight bad guys or drive old 70s cars.