I'm thrilled to have the A Dreadful Fairy Book Blog Tour stopping by today with a review and giveaway. This tour is sponsored by Amberjack Publishing and hosted by The Children's Book Review...
A Dreadful Fairy Book
By Jon Etter
November 20, 2018
Amberjack Publishing
Source: ARC from pub
Shade the sprite is dreadful at being the perfect fairy. After her treehouse burns to the ground, Shade embarks on a quest, albeit with rather questionable companions, to find a place her outré self can finally fit in—a place of companionship and comfort and, most importantly, positively filled with books. When fantastic ruffians, swindlers, and a pack of ruthless Unseelie hunters threaten to halt her at every turn, can Shade survive the dreadful journey and find a destination she can truly call home?
Ages 9-12 | Publisher: Amberjack Publishing | November 20, 2018 | ISBN-13: 978 1948705141
With her earth-tone colors, round body, and preference for books instead of silliness, Shade is not like other sprites at all. Orphaned by a war and a blight, Shade finds herself homeless and fed up when her home and book collection in Pleasant Hollow is burned to the ground. Determined to find a place she belongs, hopefully a place full of books, Shade sets out into the big fairy world and finds herself in the company of questionable companions, caught up in an ongoing fairy battle, and shocked, appalled, and dongled at every turn.
Jon Etter’s A Dreadful Fairy Book is a snarktastic and fun fairytale adventure! Bubbling over with cheeky humor, twisted fantastical elements, and little characters with BIG personalities, A Dreadful Fairy Book is anything but dreadful.
Etter makes clever use of a narrator, allowing the whimsically quirky story to unfold from many perspectives. Narrated by the clearly over-worked and exasperated Quentin Q. Quacksworth, whose wry interjections and warnings will have young readers literally lol’ing, A Dreadful Fairy Book has Lemony Snicket storytelling vibes. Etter takes the classic fairy realm and its various inhabitants and infuses them with a lot of imaginative and fresh twists. Readers will be fascinated by the many fairy beings introduced (sprites, brownies, witches, goblins, trolls, kobolds, leprechauns, and more) and intrigued by the fantastical settings Shade finds herself in. Etter does a great job of creating an exciting and enchanting world that readers will have fun getting lost in.
Along with our curmudgeonly narrator, A Dreadful Fairy Book is full of larger-than-life characters with a lot of spunk, attitude, humor, charm, and heart. Young readers will get a kick out of Shade’s feisty nature, be amused by her lovable companions, and be charmed by all the surprising characters Shade and her friends meet along the way.
I had so much fun joining Shade on her fantastically quirky adventure, belly laughed with each of Quentin’s funny observations and interjections, and loved Etter’s homage to and celebration of beloved books and reading. A Dreadful Fairy Book is sure to entertain, amuse, and enchant young readers!
MY RATING
4/5 Cupcakes
Jon Etter grew up in the cornfields of Illinois on a farm just outside of the town of Forrest (Population: 1300 and some dogs), where he spent most of his time devouring books in the local library. After high school, he earned a B.A. in English Education from Illinois State University and had the pleasure of taking a creative writing class with David Foster Wallace (he remembers Wallace complaining during one of their three-hour night classes about the tedium of reading through the galley proofs of the new book Wallace had coming out, which turned out to be Infinite Jest). Since then, Jon has earned an M.A. in English Literature from University of Wisconsin—Madison and Speech Certification from Carroll University.
Since 1996, Jon has taught thousands of students as a high school English teacher in Wisconsin public schools, first in Sheboygan and for the past ten years in the Milwaukee metro area. In addition to teaching, he has served as a station manager for WSHS 91.7 FM in Sheboygan, coached forensics, and been a faculty advisor for a number of groups including the Gay-Straight Alliance, Philosophy Club, Film Club, and Dungeons & Dragons Club.
Quentin Q. Quacksworth
OFFICIAL LINKS
Enter to win a copy of A Dreadful Fairy Book by Jon Etter!
Ten (10) winners receive:
- A bound galley copy of A Dreadful Fairy Book
Giveaway begins November 13, 2018, at 12:01 A.M. PST and ends December 2018, at 11:59 P.M. PST.
Giveaway open to residents of the fifty United States and the District of Columbia who are 13 and older.
Amberjack Publishing is responsible for prize fulfillment.
Thank you for your post and excerpt.
ReplyDeleteCarol Luciano
Lucky4750 at aol dot com