Tuesday 3 January 2012

3. The Windvale Sprites by Mackenzie Crook

Windvale Sprites by Mackenzie Crook
Published November 2011, Faber


From the publisher:

When a storm sweeps through the country, Asa wakes up the next day to find that his town is almost unrecognisable - trees have fallen down, roofs have collapsed and debris lies everywhere. But amongst the debris in his back garden Asa makes an astounding discovery - the body of a small winged creature. A creature that looks very much like a fairy. Do fairies exist? Asa is determined to find out. He embarks on a mission that will lead him to the lost journals of local eccentric Benjamin Tooth who, two hundred years earlier, claimed to have discovered the existence of fairies. What Asa reads in those journals takes him on a secret trip to Windvale Moor, where he discovers even more than he'd hoped to...

I am generally not a big fantasy reader, but I am a sucker for a good cover, and I will admit that it was the cover that made me want to pick up this book.  It's a hardback with gorgeous raised gold text on the cover.  As I am going to be reading so many books this year, I will be trying to broaden my reading and read a bit of everything, so I read this.



It's not the kind of fantasy novel that's set in another world, it's set in the English countryside in the present day.  Apart from the fantastical elements (the fairies) it is also an adventure story.  In the aftermath of devestating storm, school is cancelled and while his parents are off at work Asa is off roaming the town, solving the mystery of the Windvale Sprites. The character you will love to meet is Mr Trap, one of the local librarians, he is a standout amid the adult characters.

Who will like this book: Boys and Girls Age 8+
Read it if you like: The Spiderwick Chronicles

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