Ivy and the Meanstalk, by Dawn Lairamore, is the sequel to Ivy's Ever After, which I loved. This time, Ardendale is threatened by Largessa, a female giant who has not been able to sleep ever since Jack (of beanstalk fame) stole her magic harp. Since this happened hundreds of years ago, she is in a very nasty mood and tells Ivy she will start throwing large boulders to rain down on Ardendale if the harp is not returned.
Ivy consults Drusilla, her fairy godmother, and discovers that the harp is probably in Jackopia, so Ivy and Elridge fly to Jackopia to retrieve it. Of course, the present king of Jackopia flatly refuses to give up the harp, not caring that his stubborness will result in the total destruction of an entire kingdom and all its people. This is a fairy tale, so it should end with a happily ever after ending, but you'll have to read the book to find out!
The only child character in Eleanor Updale's Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman is Cissie Longman, the rather obnoxious hotel manager’s daughter. The main character, Montmorency, doesn’t even interact with her very much. Nevertheless, I can see kids really enjoying this book because Montmorency is such an engaging character. He is a scofflaw, but one whose history generates sympathy. He is clever, but also a bit vulnerable, so his success does not always seem predetermined. And he manages to live a double life, always on the cusp of discovery and ruin, and that gives his story enough suspense and adventure to keep the pages turning.Readers first meet Montmorency when he is in prison. He had enjoyed quite a career as a thief before having an unfortunate run-in with a wicked piece of machinery during one of his raids. He would most certainly have died if not for the ministrations of Doctor Farcett, who eagerly tested some of his latest medical theories as he saved Montmorency’s life. The patient is given the name “Prisoner 493,” and Doctor Farcett is allowed to transport him periodically to meetings of the Scientific Society so that he can use him as a display. Prisoner 493’s scars are bared for all to see, poke at and prod during these sessions.
When Prisoner 493 is released from prison a few months later, he uses the newly built sewer system, which he learned about during one of the Scientific Society meetings, as an escape route and returns to his thieving ways. This time, though, he creates not just one but two new identities for himself. Scarper is his lower class persona, and it is he who robs the city’s wealthy and scurries into the sewer to escape. His second persona takes the name Montmorency, and he is a gentleman who lives in a high-class hotel, enjoying the high life. It’s interesting to see how the former Prisoner 493 juggles his two personalities, claiming that Scarper is Montmorency’s servant.
The book is set in Victorian England, one of my favorite historical periods, and this certainly added to my enjoyment of this imaginative and well-written tale. Updale has written three sequels, and I look forward to reading them.
I had not read anything by Jessica Day George before reading Princess of the Midnight Ball. This surprised me because her books seem to fit in well among my favorite “fairy tale” books such as Once Upon a Marigold, Ella Enchanted, and Hatching Magic. This story adapts the traditional tale of the twelve dancing princesses into a full-length novel with great success. 