The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

"This book was a real revelation to me. September is more of an Alice in Wonderland figure. She isn’t the agent for change, she has stepped into this world and she is the vehicle through which we see this world. What she is, is incredibly funny. And funny in a way that children often are in that they don’t want to be funny, they want to be taken seriously. It’s a huge source of frustration to her that she isn’t taken seriously. And as the reader you are complicit in this. I laughed out loud on every page of this book. “September is the polar opposite of some of the other fierce girls I’ve picked” I love how Catherynne Valente updated Alice and gave her such high stakes and the impact that this has on her. September isn’t a bold girl but her desire to have adventures drives her on. By the end of the series she is a queen, so she definitely grows. The book is incredibly inventive. September stands apart from other girls I’ve read about, she is in many ways so ordinary and so powerless. The polar opposite of some of the other fierce girls I’ve picked. She is a sort of cipher in the book. I suppose it is that she keeps going. And often that is all we can do. Keep getting up, keep going to school, keep doing homework, keep facing the bullies. It’s not tremendously glamorous but sometimes surviving is enough and September is a real survivor. I hope I’m not making the book sound dull. The adventure happens to September rather than her affecting the adventure."