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Anne Ursu

Författare till Breadcrumbs

15+ verk 4,035 medlemmar 208 recensioner 4 favoritmärkta

Om författaren

Foto taget av: anneursu.com

Serier

Verk av Anne Ursu

Breadcrumbs (2011) 1,215 exemplar
The Shadow Thieves (2006) 974 exemplar
The Real Boy (2013) 484 exemplar
The Siren Song (2007) 296 exemplar
Spilling Clarence (2003) 293 exemplar
The Immortal Fire (2009) 183 exemplar
The Lost Girl (2019) 164 exemplar
The Disapparation of James (2003) 157 exemplar
Not Quite a Ghost (2024) 32 exemplar

Associerade verk

The Future Dictionary of America (2004) — Bidragsgivare — 627 exemplar
Guys Read: The Sports Pages (2012) — Bidragsgivare — 194 exemplar
Swashbuckling Fantasy: 10 Thrilling Tales of Magical Adventure (2006) — Bidragsgivare — 79 exemplar
Riding Shotgun: Women Write About Their Mothers (2008) — Bidragsgivare — 24 exemplar
Politically Inspired (2003) — Bidragsgivare — 21 exemplar

Taggad

Allmänna fakta

Vedertaget namn
Ursu, Anne
Födelsedag
20th Century
Kön
female
Nationalitet
USA
Bostadsorter
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Priser och utmärkelser
Minnesota New Voice Book Award (2003)

Medlemmar

Recensioner

Ghosts and girlhood and chronic illness.
 
Flaggad
mutantpudding | 10 andra recensioner | Mar 10, 2024 |
*well-written book with a captivating storyline
*easy to read and kept my interest from cover to cover
*great character development
*highly recommend
 
Flaggad
BridgetteS | 10 andra recensioner | Mar 9, 2024 |
{stand alone; children's, fairytale retelling, magic, The Snow Queen, Hans Christian Anderson, fables, fairytales}(2011)

This was another book bullet for an author for me (LT members discussing other books of hers) but it might be one of those cases where I raised my expectations too high whereas if I had read it cold I'd have appreciated it more.

Hmm; I'm not quite sure what to think about this one. It was a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen and (though I haven't read it in quite a while) those elements were all there as I remembered them. The protagonists are Hazel (who is adopted and whose father has recently moved away from the family home) and her best friend Jack (whose mother seems to be suffering from depression), both in the fifth grade at their local elementary school. Both very real children who connect with each other as with no-one else because they both have wonderfully active imaginations (Hazel's parents came to get her in a rocket ship, for example) and no-one else seems to willing or able to live in the same worlds as they do.

I liked Hazel's mum; she's obviously in a difficult situation and also doing her best to understand and help Hazel. I suppose I'm at that point in my life that, though I can see the magic, I empathise with parents - but I felt that maybe I was therefore on the 'other side' from Hazel and Jack which made me feel vaguely guilty (scratchy?) while reading this story.

The story is told in the third person from Hazel's point of view. She doesn't feel as though she fits in, especially as she's recently had to transfer from a more permissive school, but Jack is her best friend and next door neighbour though he's not in the same class. They have adventures in imaginary lands together and at school he plays with her at every recess - until something gets in his eye and he changes. And then he disappears because he's been whisked away by the Snow Queen. Hazel, with her vivid imagination, is the only one who can see through the magic and rescue him but first she has to navigate through the woods (which are not the woods of her Minnesota town) to the Snow Queen's palace.
Hazel stepped into the woods gingerly, expecting to land in a thick cushion of snow. So she stumbled when her foot went all the way to solid ground. It was not winter in the woods—at least in these woods.
As she goes through the woods she encounters familiar (to us) folk tales and fairy tales but as she goes further they become twisted away from the ones that we're used to. (Maybe these were the 'breadcrumbs'? As Hazel noted, there weren't any others):
Hazel watched the face of the compass as the needle wavered slightly, as if afraid to make too firm a commitment. But it was pointing roughly the way she was heading. Hazel was going north. Her heart lifted a little. This might be a magic woods, but there was still a north here. It was a place, like any other. The compass would guide her to Jack, and then guide her home. Who needed breadcrumbs?
She had a compass. She had a direction. She had a path. She knew where north was. So Hazel stepped on the path and headed forward.
And that was the point at which I got confused. Was it supposed to be familiar or sunder expectations? And if the second, was it supposed to be scary? Given that it's a children's book, probably not - but I felt that I was missing something, maybe an allegory, and I couldn't work out what. I felt that the ending resolved some things (and it looks like Hazel is starting to make other friends) but left a lot of questions open.

(February 2024)
3-3.5 stars
… (mer)
 
Flaggad
humouress | 75 andra recensioner | Mar 2, 2024 |
The book was charming and honestly one of the best middle grade fantasies I've read in a while! Marya Lupu has been ordered to Dragomir Academy for troubled young ladies. She is sure it's because she inadvertently messed up her brother's chances of becoming a sorcerer (really though, it was the goats fault!) so she resignedly goes. Her parents are glad to be rid of her but she will miss her brother and Madame Bandu down the street. Bandu taught her to read and write and told her the secrets that can be weaved in the tapestries. At Dragomir Academy she finds lots of other "troubled" girls like her, but she can't help but make a few friends and stumble upon a mystery or two. A fantastic feminist fantasy filled with girl power, friendships, and adventure. So much fun. I wish this were a series!… (mer)
 
Flaggad
ecataldi | 13 andra recensioner | Feb 22, 2024 |

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Statistik

Verk
15
Även av
6
Medlemmar
4,035
Popularitet
#6,236
Betyg
½ 3.7
Recensioner
208
ISBN
90
Språk
5
Favoritmärkt
4

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