To prep for this review, I was rereading my previous Kidliterati review of a Naomi Novik book. My daughter was perched at my shoulder because it's summer and god forbid she be outside.
"What’s this?" she asked.
"Book review."
"For what book?"
"UPROOTED. I'm pretty sure you read it." My children read like our dog eats. Constantly, voraciously, and with very little attention to labels.
"Maybe," she said. "What's it about?"
"It’s about an unlikely girl who is taken away from her village and ends up having to save everyone," I said.
"Yeah that sounds like every book I read," my thirteen-year-old said.
"Fair point," I answered. "But UPROOTED is still good, because of how the story is told. I liked it enough to read SPINNING SILVER."
"And what's that about?"
"It’s about three unlikely girls who come together using their brains and their hutzpah to save their people."
"Sounds---"
"But, what I think you’ll like the most," I interrupt because this book review really needs to kick into gear and my kid has already had enough lines, "is that it weaves in both Grimm fairy tales and Russian folk tales but really subtly, without beating you over your head with it like you’re too stupid to notice it otherwise."
"Hmm," she replied. "Should I read it?"
"I read it twice," I said.
"I do like fairy tales," she said, picking the book up from next to my laptop.
"What do you like about fairy tales?" I asked, trying to add to the word count of this review. But she shrugged her shoulders, smiled at me with an air of mystery and the magic all thirteen-year-olds possess, and wandered off to watch Voltron with her twin sister because it's summer and god forbid either one of them be outside.
5 out of 5 stars.
I loved SPINNING SILVER! Novik is a tremendous talent.
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