Rate this book

Ophelia And The Marvellous Boy (2014)

by Karen Foxlee(Favorite Author)

3.87 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

147140238X (ISBN13: 9781471402388)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Hot Key Books

review 1: This is a riff on Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen, and would be a good read aloud for third grade classrooms studying fairy tales. Ophelia has moved to a large city with her father and sister, Alice, after the death of her dear mother. As Ophelia's father is working on a special sword collection, scientifically minded Ophelia freely roams the museum where she finds a boy who has been imprisoned for hundreds of years by the evil Snow Queen. Together the Marvelous Boy and Ophelia face magical challenges that can't be explained by science, and Ophelia must be brave and rectify the sadness, snow and cold that is enveloping the city and people. The adventure and fantasy within this tale make it difficult to put down.
review 2: There is much to like about ... morethis tale, my problem was I found the elements I liked most: the winter queen, the timeless quest, the sister lured by vanity, the ticking clock, the labyrinthine museum and malevolent forces that come to life, I liked better in other books I had previously red. There is imagination and talent here, but the story sometimes felt self-indulgent. The lists of museum exhibits the child passes through are clever, but I found they were repeated too often and started to feel like an inside joke told too frequently. I do think there are kids who will like it. It reminded me a lot of The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland series and a bit of, though mercifully shorter than, Wildwood. The author's heavy handed message: that the protagonist should give up her rationalist bent and act according to her heart, rubbed me the wrong way, but other readers may not be bothered by that. less

Download links for: Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy

Advertising