BookBunnies

Marshmallow reviews Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

Today Marshmallow is talking to Sprinkles about Thornhedge, a 2023 book by T. Kingfisher that won the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 2024.

Sprinkles: So Marshmallow, I know you love retellings of fairy tales, so I thought you would appreciate this book. Was I right?

Marshmallow: Yes.

S: Yay! I liked it too. So tell us a bit about the book.

M: This is a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story. I had already read and reviewed Thornwood, another retelling of Sleeping Beauty, and that was pretty good too, but this one turns things even more upside down.

S: What do you mean?

M: Well, first of all, the narrator is a timid creature who calls herself Toadling, and we eventually learn that she is the fairy godmother who was the one to put the princess to sleep. But nothing is as we think we knew it to be.

S: You are being quite cryptic Marshmallow.

M: Yes, I am a very cryptic bunny.

S: That might not be optimal for one who is reviewing a book!

M: Well, I do not want to spill all the beans!

S: Okay, yes, you do have a point, but maybe then let us give the readers just a bit more.

M: So as I said, the book tells the story of the fairy godmother of Sleeping Beauty. It turns out that she was a human child, and she was kidnapped from the castle of her parents, a king and a queen, by evil fairies who replaced her with a changeling. Changelings are powerful creatures that seek to cause mischief or even worse. There is a deeper reason for why they cause mischief, but maybe this is enough for the time being.

S: Okay, so changelings in the sense of European folk stories.

M: Yes, not like the changelings of Star Trek Deep Space Nine.

S: Okay, I see.

M: When Toadling was replaced by a changeling, she was taken to the fairy world and was raised there by some frog-like fairy creatures called greenteeth. Then she is then somewhere else by a hare goddess and trained to be a fairy godmother.

S: Ooh, I like it when there are bunnies in the story!

M: Well, I am not sure this hare goddess is a very nice bunny. Anyways, time passes differently in the fairy world and the regular world. So by the time Toadling has spent nine years with the greenteeth and one year in training, the changeling named Fayette has just been “born”. So Toadling goes and becomes her doppelganger’s godmother.

S: That is interesting. Do her parents recognize her?

M: No. The nine years she spent with the greenteeth underwater have changed her and morphed her into a toadlike creature. She can look humanlike, but also can transform into a toad when she wants.

S: I see. So why is Fayette sleeping though?

M: Well, she is not, when Toadling comes by, but Toadling is supposed to do some magic and make her not harm anyone but she is sidetracked somehow and misses the opportunity to do her magic fully. So she ends up trying to stay around the child to make sure she will not harm anyone. But as the child grows up, she becomes more and more unruly, and at some point even starts torturing animals and shows no remorse or pity. So Toadling decides to put her to sleep.

S: That is awful! So these changelings are pure evil?

M: Well, in some sense yes, they are evil. But there is actually a reason for this. The changelings who are placed in human families are also babies when the switch occurs. However, these changelings belong to another plane of existence (the fairy world, I think), so nothing feels real to them. They grow up never really feeling anything, never being able to taste any food, and having metallic things burn them upon touch. The changelings grow up in a world without their kind, knowing in the back of their mind that this was not where they were supposed to be. Ultimately, they grow up confused and alone, and to them, human life is insignificant in this fake, foreign world.

S: Yes, but so was Toadling taken and placed in a totally different world. And she did not become wantonly cruel. She wants to help she wants to diminish people’s pains.

M: You have a point, so maybe the changelings have some tinge of evil in them from the start. But then again, Toadling was in some sense lucky. The greenteeth were kind to her and loved her.

S: But a family whose baby has been replaced by a changeling would also love that changeling, not knowing that it is not their original baby.

M: Yeah, I guess. But I kind of want to believe that nothing is born evil.

S: I can totally understand that and sympathize.

Marshmallow is reading Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher. — Marshmallow is reading *Thornhedge* by T. Kingfisher.

S: Okay back to the story though. So Toadling put the changeling to sleep and then what happens?

M: Well, lots of time passes. Centuries. And Toadling stays around the castle and grows a thorn hedge around it to keep people out. She hopes that people will eventually forget the castle, the story of the princess who fell asleep and so on. Unfortunately people do spread the story, and even though she hides things so well that most do forget, there comes a knight one day who wants to save the princess. But maybe it is not the princess who needs saving but Toadling herself!

S: Ooh, that is a great way to wrap up your summary and keep things still open!

M: Thank you.

S: Okay, so now tell me a bit about the book in terms of style.

M: I liked how the author used a very simple voice but still managed to capture a fairy-tale atmosphere for the story. And she created this character, a timid human-fairy child, that is very likeable. She was only ten when she became this fairy godmother, but then she lived outside the castle for centuries, determined to keep the world safe from the changeling-princess. So she grows up and maybe more mature but she still has this childlike innocence.

S: I agree.

M: I also like how the author develops two themes throughout the book; these were the two I caught: first magic being intertwined and represented and talked about as water. And second how beauty is not surface-level, that beauty is not what you see on the outside, but something else entirely. The changeling looks like a beautiful child, but she is evil and to Toadling she looks terrifying. The greenteeth would look ugly to us probably but to Toadling they are strong, and they define beauty for her. It is somehow related to their strength and skills.

S: But she likes them, they are kind to her, and they are her family.

M: Yes, but it goes beyond that I think. Toadling is raised in this other world based on scavenging and surviving, so she learns to appreciate totally different things, not superficial beauty but something beyond. She values traits like skilled hunting over things like soft smooth skin.

S: That makes sense to me Marshmallow. So this short little book was worth reading then?

M: Yes, 100%. Which is also, coincidentally, how I’d rate it.

S: I was just going to ask that!

M: Well, now you don’t have to!

S: Yes, thank you. Okay, let us wrap this review then. What would you like to tell our readers?

M: Stay tuned for more amazing reviews from the book bunnies!

Marshmallow rates Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher 100%. — Marshmallow rates *Thornhedge* by T. Kingfisher 100%.

Caramel reviews The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Today Caramel is talking to Sprinkles about The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the 1979 book by Douglas Adams that originated from a 1978 radio show and then went on to evolve into a whole “comedy science fiction franchise”, according to Wikipedia.

Sprinkles: So we are talking about The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy today. I am excited! I had really enjoyed reading this book myself.

Caramel: Yup, this book was surely a really good read. I had a lot of fun reading it.

S: Yay! So maybe we can start with a brief introduction to the story for anyone reading our blog who might not know about it.

C: Sure. It is a scifi book that is infused with a lot of comedy.

S: It is funny, I agree. Tell us more.

C: This book tells the story of a guy named Arthur Dent and another one named Ford Perfect.

S: It is actually Prefect, as in Ford Prefect, the car.

C: Yes, I knew that but somehow forgot. Yes, he is actually named that because he came to Earth fifteen years before the start of this story, maybe around when the car came out, you see Ford Prefect is an alien from Betelgeuse Seven.

S: Yes, apparently the author at some point said that Ford “had simply mistaken the dominant life form on Earth” (again according to Wikipedia).

C: Yes, when you look at it from outer space, apparently, humans don’t look like the dominant species on Earth. So Ford Prefect thought he should blend in and gave himself the name of a common car. But actually humans are really not the dominant species on Earth, according to The Hitchhiker’s Guide. It is the mice who are the smartest species on our planet.

S: That is funny! I mean, we have read many books about clever mice, remember Poppy and Ragweed?

C: Yes, then there is Ralph and Babymouse. So to me it sounds reasonable!

S: But this book is not really about mice, is it?

C: No, it is about the adventures of Arthur and Ford. So Ford comes to Earth to work on a guide book, and then is stuck. At the time when the book starts, Ford knows that the planet is going to be destroyed soon and wants to save Arthur and he tries to teach him about life in the universe. He tells him about this amazing guide book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide, that anyone who is going out traveling in space should have.

S: So the book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is about a book called The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy?

C: Kind of, but it is more about Ford and Arthur.

S: So what happens? Do they leave the Earth together? And why on earth is the Earth going to be destroyed?

C: Because the planet is in the way of an intergalactic highway that some people want to build.

S: Ouch! That’s rough! Okay, so Earth cannot appeal and they have to leave, right? What do they do? Does the Earth really get destroyed in the book?

C: Yes, the entire planet is destroyed and turned to ash.

S: You said this was a funny book. That sounds pretty terrible.

C: Yes, but you know it is fiction when you are reading it. And the book is funny! Really funny. And they do not go into the details of the destruction at all really; that is almost an excuse to get Ford and Arthur traveling together.

S: And also telling us that our planet is one of many and maybe we should not be so full of ourselves if they can just demolish it to make a highway, like we do not really matter in the grand scheme of things.

C: When you say it like that, it maybe does not sound so funny, but it is really funny Sprinkles.

S: I know Caramel, and actually I like being reminded that we should not be too full of ourselves. Our lives matter, what we do matters, but we are not at the center of the universe. It is a small world after all but it is inside a very big universe.

Caramel is reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. — Caramel is reading *The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy* by Douglas Adams.

S: Anyways back to the book. So what happens in the end? You know there are many more books in the series?

C: They get picked up on accident by an alien ship, and are then thrown out of the ship, and then are picked up by another ship. Apparently Arthur is the only human remaining from Earth, and it is kind of funny because he is just a normal guy. Anyways, along the way a lot of hilarious things happen and we learn from Ford about the Guide and all sorts of weird facts from it.

S: Oooh, you like facts! But of course these are probably fictional facts, right? Can you tell me a couple?

C: Yep, they are fictional but also really fun. One is about the Babel fish which feeds off of brain waves and can translate any language.

S: Ooh, cool, like the universal translator in Star Trek or in Doctor Who, but it is a fish! Awesome! One more?

C: There is a thing called the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, which is a cocktail that contains Ol’ Janx Spirit, a particularly vicious alcoholic drink, and is so strong that you will need to recuperate in a hospital.

S: That sounds bad. Okay, so maybe it is time to wrap up this review. Overall it seems like this book kept you entertained, right? Do you want to read the next book in the series? It is called The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. I think there are five more books in total.

C: Sure, why not?

S: Alright, we will see if we can get you a copy. Okay, Caramel, what would you like to tell our readers as we wrap up this review?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams and is keen to read more from this series. — Caramel enjoyed reading *The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy* by Douglas Adams and is keen to read more from this series.

Sprinkles reviews A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson and Tasha Tudor

About a year ago, Sprinkles reviewed Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, a book showcasing Robert Frost’s famous poem with beautiful illustrations by Susan Jeffers. Since then, she has been collecting poetry books suitable for young bunnies. Caramel reviewed one of those books (This is a Poem That Heals Fish, written originally in French by Jean-Pierre Siméon and illustrated by Olivier Tallec.) just a couple days ago. Today Sprinkles reviews another family favorite, A Child’s Garden of Verses, a beautiful collection of poems by Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in 1885. The edition Sprinkles is talking about was illustrated by Tasha Tudor and first published in 1981.

Sprinkles reviews A Child's Garden of Verses, a collection of children's poems written by Robert Louis Stevenson and illustrated by Tasha Tudor. — Sprinkles reviews *A Child’s Garden of Verses*, a collection of children’s poems written by Robert Louis Stevenson and illustrated by Tasha Tudor.

Many know Robert Louis Stevenson as the author of classics like Treasure Island (1883) and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886). At the book bunnies household, he is better known as the person who wrote A Child’s Garden of Verses, a beautiful collection of children’s poems that we read out loud together. In the edition we have, there are beautiful and simply elegant illustrations on each page, that only add to the experience of reading these simple but evocative poems out loud.

There are one or two poems displayed on each page, and the illustrator accompanies them with topical imagery that takes us deep into the story unfolding in the poems. For example, the page that displays the poem “Pirate Story” is decorated with images of three children playing pirates. At the top center of the page they are sitting or standing on a makeshift boat in the middle of a garden with a swing, playing pirates. The cattle that show up in the third stanza show up at the bottom of the page as the three children flee with glee.

One of my favorites is the short poem “The Swing” which in only three stanzas of four lines each rhythmically and authentically captures the joy of swinging back and forth on a swing. Here is how it starts:

How do you like to go up on a swing
       Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
       Ever a child can do? 
                     -Robert Louis Stevenson, "The Swing"

Another favorite “My Shadow” has its own Wikipedia page. Here is a stanza:

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow; 
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball, 
And he sometimes gets so little that there’s none of him at all.
                     -Robert Louis Stevenson, "My Shadow"

Sprinkles is reading A Child's Garden of Verses, a collection of children's poems written by Robert Louis Stevenson and illustrated by Tasha Tudor. — Sprinkles is reading *A Child’s Garden of Verses*, a collection of children’s poems written by Robert Louis Stevenson and illustrated by Tasha Tudor.

A Child’s Garden of Verses collects together sixty four poems. First there are about forty poems, on topics ranging from rain to singing, from travel to bedtime. Then There is a collection of nine poems collected under the heading of “The Child Alone”. Stevenson seems to have been a rather sickly child (he dedicates the whole collection to his childhood nurse Allison Cunningham), and the poems in this section seem to be perhaps more personal than some of the others; you can hear the solitude of a child who had to remain alone and in bed for a lot of time. They are not unhappy poems, but rather, they explore a sick child’s healthy imagination and are quite fun to read. There is then a section titled “Garden Days” containing eight poems about nature and playing outside. Finally a section titled “Envoys” finds poems individually addressing Stevenson’s mother, his friends and other special people. The book ends with a poem addressed “To Any Reader” where the poet reminds us that grownups, like the poet himself, were all children once, and all children today will one day grow up:

As from the house your mother sees
you playing round the garden trees,
So you may see, if you will look,
Through the windows of this book,
Another child, far, far away,
And in another garden, play. 
But do not think you can at all, 
By knocking on the window, call 
That child to hear you. He intent 
Is all on his play-business bent. 
He does not hear; he will not look,
Nor yet be lured out of this book. 
For, long ago, the truth to say, 
He has grown up and gone away, 
And it is but a child of air 
That lingers in the garden there.
                     -Robert Louis Stevenson, "To Any Reader"

As you can see from the examples I have already provided, poems in A Child’s Garden of Verses are mostly in simple poetic forms and simple rhyme. This makes these poems a lot of fun to read out loud with young ones, and their topics, all themes and topics relevant and familiar to young children, make them accessible.

The poems in A Child’s Garden of Verses were written more than 140 years ago and as such are now in public domain. So you can find the whole collection online; see, for example, this page or this page. But we read books not only to access the words from their creator but also to hold on to them in the most visceral way, in a book that can be held, touched, seen, smelled, and shared.

In short, books like A Child’s Garden of Verses can be great opportunities to add more poetry to your family time. I hope you will give this book a try!

Sprinkles encourages all bunnies young and old to read more poetry together; books like A Child's Garden of Verses, a collection of children's poems written by Robert Louis Stevenson and illustrated by Tasha Tudor, can be great opportunities to add more poetry to your family time. — Sprinkles encourages all bunnies young and old to read more poetry together; books like *A Child’s Garden of Verses*, a collection of children’s poems written by Robert Louis Stevenson and illustrated by Tasha Tudor, can be great opportunities to add more poetry to your family time.

Caramel reviews This is a Poem That Heals Fish by Jean-Pierre Siméon and Olivier Tallec

Today Caramel talks to Sprinkles about a neat picture book about poems: This is a Poem that Heals Fish, originally written in French by Jean-Pierre Siméon and illustrated by Olivier Tallec. The version Caramel read was translated into English by Claudia Zoe Bedrick and originally published in 2007.

Caramel reviews This is a Poem That Heals Fish written by Jean-Pierre Siméon, illustrated by Olivier Tallec and translated by Claudia Zoe Bedrick. — Caramel reviews *This is a Poem That Heals Fish,* written by Jean-Pierre Siméon, illustrated by Olivier Tallec and translated by Claudia Zoe Bedrick.

Sprinkles: So, Caramel, you know that I will be reviewing a poetry book this weekend. Is that why you picked this book to review today?

Caramel: No, actually, I just thought it might be cool to review it.

S: That makes sense. I do think this is a really cool book. Also very pretty.

C: Yep, that is what caught my attention.

S: So why don’t we begin at the beginning? Can you tell us what this book is about?

C: This book is about a kid named Arthur whose fish Leon is sick. Or maybe bored actually. Anyways Arthur asks his mom what to do and she tells him to give him a poem.

S: And then off she goes to play tuba, right?

C: Yep, how did you know?

S:You know I read this book too Caramel! I actually first read about this book in a blog post about it and had to get one for us. The pictures and the words, they were all so beautiful. I am so glad you liked the pictures too.

C: Oh, I had no idea, but yes, I do like the pictures a lot!

S: So happy to hear that! Okay maybe we can get back to the story of Arthur and Leon. So does Arthur know what to do when his mom tells him to give the fish a poem?

C: Not really. So he asks everyone he knows what a poem is. And everyone tells him something different.

S: Can you give an example or two of the kinds of answers he gets?

C: One of them says that it is when you are in love and have the sky in your mouth. And another says that a poem is words turned upside down and suddenly the world is new. And another person says it is the heartbeat of a stone. And so on.

S: Which one of them is your favorite?

C: I have no idea. It is hard to pick one. They are all slightly different and all together make up a really good definition.

Caramel is reading This is a Poem That Heals Fish, written by Jean-Pierre Siméon, illustrated by Olivier Tallec and translated by Claudia Zoe Bedrick. — Caramel is reading *This is a Poem That Heals Fish*, written by Jean-Pierre Siméon, illustrated by Olivier Tallec and translated by Claudia Zoe Bedrick.

S: So how would you define a poem Caramel?

C: Hmm, I think it is a song of the heart.

S: That is beautiful, Caramel! I love it!

C: Why, thank you, I would like to think that that was very good of me.

S: Yes, I thought so. Anyways, I think this is the first poetry book you have reviewed for our blog.

C: Not really. I know Marshmallow reviewed more books about poetry than me, but i also reviewed a poetry book. Remember Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem by Amanda Gorman and Loren Long? That was a good book to read and review, too.

S: Oh yes. That is true. And this weekend I hope to review a few more poetry books. But I am glad you chose to talk about this book today. And I love that you posed with one of my favorite pages in the book with the grandpa and the red poppies!

C: I am always gracious like that!

S: Yes, you are! Okay, so before we wrap things up, tell us if Leon the fish gets to feel better at the end.

C: Yes! He does! Arthur tells his fish Leon all that he learned about poetry. And Leon is no longer bored. He says his silence is his poetry.

S: That is kind of cryptic but also beautiful.

C: Yup, creepy, too, a bit though.

S: I guess one could think that. In his silence there is a lot going on, lots of meanings in words unsaid. I choose to think of it as beautiful.

C: Yeah, I suppose that is a better way of seeing it. And more poetic!

S: Yep! So okay, maybe it is time to wrap up this review. What would you like to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel loved reading This is a Poem That Heals Fish, written by Jean-Pierre Siméon, illustrated by Olivier Tallec and translated by Claudia Zoe Bedrick, and sharing it with the readers of the book bunnies blog! — Caramel loved reading *This is a Poem That Heals Fish*, written by Jean-Pierre Siméon, illustrated by Olivier Tallec and translated by Claudia Zoe Bedrick, and sharing it with the readers of the book bunnies blog!