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Library | Material Type | Item Barcode | Shelf Number | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Varina Library | Children's book | 38674116501543 | JUV FICTION BAILEY | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
In shepherd boy Elric's tiny village, people think children like his younger sister, Wynn, are changelings--left by fairies and doomed to curse all around them. As a baby, Wynn was born with developmental delays, and according to the rules, she was supposed to be abandoned in the woods.
Instead Elric's mother saved his sister and hid her away for eleven years. They live in secret and fear of being discovered, yet their home is full of love, laughter, and singing. Wynn and Elric's favorite song is about the Silver Gate, a beautiful fairy realm where all children are welcome.
But when their long-absent father returns to sell Wynn to the Lord's castle as a maid, Elric realizes that folk songs and fantasies can't protect them from the outside world. They have to run away. Still Wynn believes there's only one place they'll ever be safe, and it lies beyond the Silver Gate.
The road to freedom is long and treacherous. If they have any hope for survival, Elric and Wynn must learn to depend on each other above everything else--and discover the magic that always reveals itself when it seems like all is lost.
Reviews (3)
Horn Book Review
In Elric's superstitious feudal village, people think children born with disabilities are changelings; even worse, that they bring down a curse on the community. That's why Elric's mother and younger sister, Wynn, with her strange fingers and slow understanding, live secretly in the woods, far from thick-skulled, bullying villagers. Then the children's mother dies, and in order to save his sister from a terrible fate, Elric takes Wynn north through the forest in search of a place they can live in peace. The world is inhospitable and the journey is hard, but luckily Wynn has the magical song their mother taught her fixed firmly in her head. No matter how much Elric insists that "some things are nothing more than fanciful tales for children," Wynn is sure that if they follow the clues in the song, they'll end up in fairyland, safe with the fairy queen. Bailey nicely balances Elric's stubborn, unimaginative certainty with Wynn's openness to poetry and magic, showing the limitations of the well-meaning but insensitive care Elric gives Wynn. "Sometimes he talked to her like she was Mildred," Wynn thinks with some outrage, "but Mildred was a chicken." As much a thoughtful study of human care and relationships as it is a fairy tale. An author's note identifies Wynn's condition as the very rare Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome. deirdre f. baker (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Wynn is a sweet-natured 11-year-old with physical and mental challenges that have caused her to be labeled a changeling and hidden away with her mother in a lonely hut far from the serfs village.When Wynns mother dies, her father plans to sell the dark-haired white girl to the lord of the manor as a kitchen slave. Her older brother, Elric, loves her, but he is conflicted about his role as her protector, for he cannot always understand or meet her needs. He makes the difficult decision to take Wynn away and find her a safe home. Their journey through the medieval-ish landscape is fraught with danger from the elements and also from superstitious, often vicious inhabitants (most evidently white and with Saxon names). Even in the darkest moments Wynn sees magical omens linked to a mysterious song she learned from her mother, and she truly believes that they will find the titular silver gate, leading to the world of the dark-brownskinned Fairy Queen. When Elric finally allows himself to believe as she does, they find more than safety. As conveyed in a third-person narration that occasionally shifts perspective from Elric to Wynn, the adventure is exciting, and the denouement is touching. Bailey explains Wynns very real genetic syndrome at the beginning rather than at the end of the work, perhaps indicating a lack of trust that readers will love Wynn and understand that she is wise and capable. Tender and magical. (Fantasy. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Elric's younger sister, Wynn, is different from other people in his feudal village. She is a family secret, living out in the woods with his mother so people won't call her changeling or harm her, while Elric stays with his father in town. When their mother dies and their father sells Wynn into the lowest rung of service in the castle, Elric knows he has to save her. But Wynn has talents of her own, and perhaps she and her idol, the Fairy Queen, will yet save Elric instead. Bailey has created a charming story of a child with Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome and a loving sibling who nevertheless takes a while to recognize his disabled sister's abilities. Commingled with this is an at-times thrilling plotline about an arduous journey to find a new home, a quirky pet chicken, and how faith and hope can create miracles in this case, a meeting with the mythical Fairy Queen. An author's note speaks to Bailey's genuine concerns about accurately characterizing someone with the condition.--Welch, Cindy Copyright 2016 Booklist
