MMGM: Dealing With Dragons

Welcome to my first review for

Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays.

MMGM started way back in 2010 by Shannon Messenger, author of Keeper of Lost Cities. Each week, participating bloggers review our favorite books for ages 8-12. Why not join us by blogging about your favorites?

If you're looking for my weekly bookish quote and bookplate, they've permanently moved to Wednesdays.


Today's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday pick

Dealing With Dragons,
Enchanted Forest Chronicles, book # 1,
First edition cover by Trina Schart Hyman

Dealing With Dragons


Written by Patricia C. Wrede
HMH Books for Young Readers,
originally Harcourt Childrens Books, 1990
Ages 10 and up
240 pages,51000 words


Themes:
Fantasy, Humor, Challenging Assumptions


Opening:
       Linderwall was a large kingdom, just east of the Mountains of Morning, where philosophers were highly respected and the number five was fashionable. The knights kept their armor brightly polished mainly for show —it had been centuries since a dragon had come east. There were the usual periodic problems with royal children and uninvited fairy godmothers, but they were always the sort of thing that could be cleared up by finding the proper prince or princess to marry the unfortunate child a few years later. All in all, Linderwall was a very prosperous and pleasant place.
       Cimorene hated it.


Thoughts:
In Dealing With Dragons, author Patricia Wrede  challenges the reader to look at traditional fairy tale tropes in a new light. Her book is fun, funny, and thought-provoking as it follows the adventures of Cimorene.

Princess Cimorene is practical, witty, and resourceful, anything but a typical princess. She feels constrained by the expectations of her society and frustrated by the machinations of others. As she fights against stereotypes, she forges a new path for herself, one of her own choosing, despite limiting circumstances. She is a strong character who dares the reader to examine her own beliefs and design her own destiny.

Wrede's humor is clever. She sprinkles the story with anachronistic references and peppers it with hilarious explanations for fairy tale behaviors. Today, the market is littered with twisted fairy tales, but few have the charm or freshness of Patricia's original style.


Bonus: 
 1. If you enjoyed Dealing With Dragons, don't miss the other books in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Or travel to an alternate history in Patricia's Thirteenth Child, a mix of magic on the American frontier.

2. You might also like A Hidden Magic, by Vivian Vande Velde, a similar tongue-in-cheek remix which features another cover by illustrator Trina Schart Hyman.



Thirteenth Child,
Frontier Magic book #1,
by Patricia Wrede

A Hidden Magic,
by Vivian Vande Velde

3. Plus, I'm giving away a used copy of Calling on Dragons or The Fairy Tale Life of Hans Christian Andersen, your choice. You can enter to win by tweeting a link to this post using the hashtag #MGLit. If you don't have a twitter account, you can leave a comment below.

Win a copy of Patricia's
Calling on Dragons
OR

This book by Eva Moore,
art by Trina Schart Hyman

A Winner will be drawn and notified September 19. Thanks for reading, and good luck.

4. Check out all the recommended titles for Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
for Monday, September 12, 2016 available on Shannon Messenger's blog. 

If you want to join MMGM, blog about a middle grade book you love on a Monday. You can post a straight review or contests, author interviews, etc. Then email Shannon Messenger at SWMessenger@hotmail.com

Put "MMGM" or "Marvelous Middle Grade Monday" in the subject line, include the title of the book you're featuring, and a link to your blog. Email your link by Sunday evening in order to be included in the list of links for the coming Monday.

For additional details, see Shannon's website.