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sedeara 's review for:
Diary of a Fairy Godmother
by Esmé Raji Codell, Drazen Kozjan
The back of this book made it sound like it was going to be a retelling of Cinderella, which was why it interested me. Cinderella actually ended up having a rather small and unimpressive role near the end. This book relies quite a bit on being cutesy and clever as the author tries to address fairy tales in a hip way (example: Little Red Riding Hood swaps her cloak for a denim jacket). Esme inverts what we consider "good" or "bad" behavior in order to create the world that her main characters, witches, live in. For example, when Hunky Dory, the main character, talks back to her teacher, the teacher says, "No use trying to earn last minute extra credit by back-talking!" Again, cute but still not enough to carry the book.
The book does get its own legs beneath it about 2/3 of the way in -- and if you didn't like fairy-tale in-jokes, you wouldn't have stuck around that long -- when Hunky Dory begins questioning her path as a witch and wanting to explore the possibility of becoming a fairy godmother. Her struggle is painted with all the nuances of coming out -- denial, shocked family members, people wondering where this desire came from, her questioning whether it's worth it to be true to herself, etc. So once it gets going, Esme handles the identity quest story nicely. And whereas most book endings leave something to be desired, this one ends on a surprisingly sweet and satisfying note.
The book does get its own legs beneath it about 2/3 of the way in -- and if you didn't like fairy-tale in-jokes, you wouldn't have stuck around that long -- when Hunky Dory begins questioning her path as a witch and wanting to explore the possibility of becoming a fairy godmother. Her struggle is painted with all the nuances of coming out -- denial, shocked family members, people wondering where this desire came from, her questioning whether it's worth it to be true to herself, etc. So once it gets going, Esme handles the identity quest story nicely. And whereas most book endings leave something to be desired, this one ends on a surprisingly sweet and satisfying note.