Nell of Gumbling: My Extremely Normal Fairy-Tale Life by Emma Steinkellner
I received a copy from Random House Children's, Labyrinth Road through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Growing up in Gumbling is not the fairytale it may appear to be to outsiders. However, Nell Starkeeper and her friends love their home and can’t imagine ever leaving. Everything is about to change now that some strangers claiming to be directly related to the last king of Gumbling have arrived. They want to put everyone out of business, evict many people who call Gumbling home, and turn it into a big fancy resort and theme park. Nell and her friends must put their heads together and find a way to save Gumbling or watch everything they’ve ever known be destroyed by two money hungry strangers.
I’m a big fan of Emma Steinkellner work, so I was extremely excited when I learned they had a new book coming out. We follow Nell, a 12-year-old artist, right as she’s about to start her seventh grade apprenticeship. What began as excitement turns to absolute disappointment when she’s matched with Mrs. Birdneck down in the dungeons working on the town archives instead of her idol, Wiz Bravo, a well-known artist. At least she has her best friend, Myra… until they reach their first big friendship hurdle!
This book is absolutely wonderful. I love that it teaches its target readers anything from figuring out friendship woes to dealing with people and classes they don’t like or don’t care about. Nell is bored by the archives and dislikes Mrs. Birdneck as much as Mrs. Birdneck dislikes her, but learns to accept her fate. She even learns how to connect with both Mrs. Birdneck and the archives she thought she hated! I really like that we also learned some of Mrs. Birdneck’s backstory, which really puts things into perspective for Nell and readers.
Speaking of friendships, Nell’s group of friends are such cool characters. Myra and Gil are her core friends, but she experiences her first big friendship hiccup with Myra when they find themselves at odds with each other. I love that we’re shown the two of them dealing with their problems in a healthy manner as well as seeing how friendships don’t always require one to be connected at the hip. We also see Nell make friends with characters she previously disliked or was jealous of, and we learn there’s more to meet the eye, which is another important lesson for readers.
Gumbling is such a vibrant world and the artwork really brings it to life. The story is presented as Mell’s journal that combines her art with her journal entries. It’s such a fun way to bring the story to life, but it’s also fast paced enough to keep its target audience (middle graders) entertained. I think this is an absolutely wonderful story and I look forward to seeing what Steinkellner publishes next.
No comments:
Post a Comment