Sunday, March 24, 2013

Hair today, gone tomorrow



TOWERING by Alex Flinn. HarperTeen, May 2013.

Flinn has woven fairy tale characters and themes and motifs into several of her novels. Here, readers will meet a modern-day Rapunzel named Rachel, a young woman who has been locked into a tower by her "mother," who insists it for her (Rachel's) own protection. Enter Wyatt, a teen sent to live with an elderly relative who lives out in the country, distant from internet and phone signals and the bad memories that haunt Wyatt still. How the two lives intersect is magical, reminiscent of the best fairy tales with a bit of a darker bent. Missing teens, strangers who seem seductively dangerous, and more weave reality and fantasy seamlessly into a novel sure to win legions more readers. And, teachers, be sure to direct teens to the 398s in the library and suggest they read some of the other variants of fairy tales including the new Philip Pullman, FAIRY TALES FROM THE BROTHERS GRIMM (Viking).

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