The Great Good Thing
by Roderick Townley

Sylvie is a plucky, pretty princess who has all kinds of interesting adventures...but only when someone reads her book. No one has done that for a long time. Just as she is desperately wishing for something to change, a new reader arrives and Sylvie dares something book characters are always told not to do: she looks up at the reader.

The resulting blunder turns out to be the saving grace for Sylvie and her entire kingdom of characters. A new young reader, tormented by an obnoxious brother, spills her tears on the book and escapes so often into its pages that she soon knows it by heart. And so, when the brotherÂ’s evil prank causes SylvieÂ’s book to go up in smoke, the characters manage to live on...in the readerÂ’s memory.

If the adventures of characters who live between the pages of a book were interesting, just wait until they start acting out roles in a young woman’s dreams. Or try to imagine what happens when the survivors from Sylvie’s book move out into the deserted countryside of their last reader’s subconscious. Trapped in the “inner space” of a single mind, Sylvie’s friends and family face tremendous challenges to their survival. And nothing can save them but a fictional princess with the courage to undertake strange and perilous adventures.

This is the cleverest, funniest fantasy spin on the fairy-tale genre that I have read in some time. It is also deeply touching and thought-provoking, with more than one moment when you will hold your breath in suspense. Fans of The Neverending Story, the Thursday Next chronicles and the Inkheart series will fall right in love with this new series, which continues with Into the Labyrinth and The Constellation of Sylvie.

Robbie Fischer
USA

Recommended Age: 12+

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